Milky Way: Origins
by Articfreezer
Summary: A look into the past of the cheerful girl.
1. An Ordinary Beginning

In a small village near the edge of the earth, there lived a boy. Not by any means was this boy worth mentioning. In fact, the most remarkable part of the boy was how exceptionally unremarkable he was. He was merely average in athletics, he was not exceptional in any school subject, and by appearance the only noteworthy feature he had was his vivid jade green eyes. If this boy had any hidden talents, they were hidden even to him. Not to say he hadn't tried to find one. Unfortunately, the result was always the same. Merely average. And accepting himself as average, he began to lose interest in life itself.

Needless to say, an average kid with nothing he felt passionate about would not be welcome in any household. Unable to accept their son as he was, his parents had saved up all the money they had and sent him off to a prestigious boarding school. The school was well known for its success in many different subjects. Everything from athletes to artists to businessmen to scientists graduated from this school. But despite its astounding success, no school was without failures.

It just so happened he was one of them, the boy thought.

It was the same old story. C grades in almost every subject. And in a school like this, filled to the brim with prodigies and excellence, he wasn't even average anymore. Getting a C more often than not meant he was at the bottom of the pack.

The boy didn't even bother joining a club, despite encouragement from his teachers and eagerly recruiting club presidents. He already knew what the result would be.

This school was not successful for nothing. Even with this boy's difficult attitude and lack of motivation, they tried to help out. As a policy, students who did not join a club would have to sign up for more classes. The purpose of this was to hopefully give the opportunity for those students to find a subject that they enjoyed.

But in the boy's case, he had simply stopped trying. Oh, he took the classes alright. But he never paid any attention to a word his instructors said, instead opting to stare blankly out a window or fall asleep. Somehow he would always manage a passing grade, albeit sometimes barely.

This is how his first couple of years of his education in this school went. His teachers didn't know what to do with him, since he was technically meeting the requirements to pass. So they did the same thing they always had. Encouraged him to take more classes.

The same old song and dance. This year, he was taking a plethora of specific subjects including psychology, home economics, and physical training. Most of them he slept right through.

For physical training, however, he was not able to do such a thing. His instructor constantly pushed him to work out under the threat of failing him. Not wanting to repeat a course and be delayed in his graduation and escape of this facility, the boy had no choice but to half-heartedly go along with the demands. Of course, nothing changed. He was average to mediocre in nearly every activity. The saving grace was that many students took the subject as an easy elective credit, meaning his averageness did not stand out. But it was of little comfort.

On one particular day, the teacher announced that there would be a swimming unit. There was an excited buzz until he followed it up by saying the genders would be split up for it. The excitement deflated like a balloon. Of course, the boy could not care less.

When the unit finally came, the teacher informed them that he would be teaching the girls first, much to the chagrin of most of the boys. Not paying any mind to the murderous glares that he probably received every year, he informed the males that they were to use the weight room across the sports field in the meanwhile. And, he casually added, if any of them happened to be caught anywhere outside the room during this time, they would instantly be failed.

The teacher led the boys across the field and ushered them into the weight room, taking count of each one of them. Then off he went with the girls.

Finally, the boy was offered a chance to sleep in this class. But he had become so used to being uncomfortably forced to work out in this room that he just couldn't get into the mood. Looking around, he noticed to his surprise that many of classmates weren't using the machines either.

A small huddle featuring a group of boys that were only taking the class as an elective caught his attention. He wandered up to them and asked them what they were talking about.

"We're going to get some food."

Food sounded nice. The boy thought. It was much easier to relax on a full stomach. He asked if he could tag along.

The huddled group looked at him incredulously as if in disbelief. Then a mischievous grin appeared on one of their faces.

"Sure, why not?"

And the group of students left the weight room, with the boy in tow. Absentmindedly, he followed their footsteps, not really paying attention to where he was going. Before he knew it, the group had stopped. Caught by surprise, the boy looked up. They hadn't even left the school grounds. In fact, they were still in the training facility. He could still see the weight room. They had merely just crossed from their side of the sports field back to the other. In front of them was the massive brick wall separating the outside from the school. There were no doors along this wall. Slightly suspicious, the boy asked what they were going to eat. His companions smirked.

"Candy, of course."

Another boy, one who was going into engineering, spoke up as well.

"From this angle, using this hole I drilled earlier, it should be…Hwaa?!"

"W-what is it?!"

"I-I can see-!"

"Move over!"

"H-hey! Let me get in on this!"

"Cut it out! It was my idea!"

A flurry of excited whispers suddenly erupted from the group. From what, the boy could not tell. But he could see clearly that the group were all converging at one point in particular. And with the mention of a hole, his suspicions grew. But wanting to make sure for research purposes, he tapped the shoulder of the one closest to the hole.

"Ah'm still usin' it ova here!"

Not really caring about that, the boy promptly shoved him out of way and onto the ground with a loud thud. A noticeable hush fell over the crowd, and the boy was able to clearly hear some peculiar noises from the other side of the wall. He took a quick glance through the hole.

Instantly, he recoiled. Just as he thought, they were peeping. But he made a mistake. He had thought that it would be the swimming pool on the other side of the hole. But to his complete surprise, it was actually the girl's locker room. Meaning the sight he had just seen was filled with girls that were changing. Which meant-

He blushed at the recollection.

It was at that moment he recalled the teacher's words. If he were to be caught he would be failed. Considering the role of this class to many of the boys, it may have been a risk they were willing to take. But for him, it would likely mean that the school would accuse him of taking the subject lightly and force him to repeat it. And if the group of boys were just going to hang around here…He shuddered. This was not a risk he was willing to take.

And so he turned away, meaning to escape this danger. But when he turned around, he was met face to face with an angry buff student twice as big as him.

"Wherdya fink yer goin'?"

By the voice he recognized him as the one he pushed. Crouched at the hole, he didn't look nearly as imposing. Shrugging, the boy meant to shove past him, but a giant arm grabbed him before he got anywhere and pinned him against the wall.

"Ah said…" The brute repeated, in a notably loud voice. "Wherdya fink yer goin'?!"

The boy stared at him, annoyed. He supposed he was at fault for pissing this dude off. But he really needed to get back before this moron's voice got them caught. He suggested that they had this conversation someplace else. His suppressor laughed.

"We ain't goin' nowhere."

"H-hey, man. Calm down…you're gonna get us busted man."

"SHADDUP!"

Another member of the group who had tried to speak reason to the brute, flinched as he was yelled at and took a step back. Turning his attention back to his captive, the brute leered at him.

"Whattya fink ya are, huh? Pushin' me like dat…ya haf a deaf wish bud?"

The boy sighed. The only wish he had was for the guy in front of him would stop babbling like an idiot. He told him so.

The brute turned beet red with anger. Before he could react, the boy felt a sudden thrust on chest and felt his head get hit on the back of the wall. Seeing stars, he collapsed to the ground. His vision blurred, he could barely make out the outline of the big guy readying another punch-

"What was that?!"

The brute stopped mid windup and cast a worried glance over his shoulder. A member of the group yelled out.

"It's the teacher! Let's scram!"

And just like that the group vanished, scurrying off back to the safety of the weight room. The boy groggily tried to rise his feet, but his effort was wasted. His head spun in circles from the impact and he could not get up without stumbling back to the ground in pain. So that was it then. He was caught. He'd have to repeat the course and be labeled as a pervert. He sighed as he gave up trying to get up. In his case, he supposed it didn't really matter. It would just be a pain to deal with. A cool wind blew as he attempted to ease the pain in his head by resting his head against the cold wall outside of the locker room, waiting for him inevitable doom.

Without anything to distract him, he heard something inside the locker room. Merely the girls excited chatter as they changed. But, he realized, he heard something else. A quieter voice nearer to him, probably belonging to a girl changing just on the other side of the wall, was singing a curious melody. Normally, he'd pay no mind. But he had nothing else to do, so he listened in.

He couldn't quite catch the words, but it was a pleasant tune, he thought. Sort of uplifting. He closed his eyes to focus on it. And maybe it was just his head acting funny, but time had felt as if it slowed down. The noises of the other girls faded to the background. A small voice in his mind questioned what he was doing, but he continued to listen, entranced by the sound of her voice.

With a start, he realized he was smiling. Legitimately smiling, something that he hadn't done in a very, very long time. And with his smile, his discomfort felt as it had gone away. What was this music doing to him?

In any case, he suddenly felt a surge of energy return to him. What _was_ he doing? If he stuck around here for much longer, he'd be caught. And then he'd have to repeat this horrible class. There was no way in hell he was letting that happening!

The boy rose to his feet, painfully reminded of the wounds he had suffered. But, still he struggled. He had to leave. He made to dash away, but he heard the sound of footsteps coming. It was too late. There was no way he could through the open field now. The teacher was here.

But still he was not going to give up just yet. For the first time in a long while, he felt the surge of adrenaline kicking in. Frantically, he looked around for a place for cover.

There! Around the sports field lay what he was looking for. Bleachers. In an open area, they were his only chance. Moving quickly, he ducked to the seats and crawled under. It wasn't the cleanest under there. He felt something slimy touch his skin as he scrambled to the deepest cover he could, and cobwebs stuck to his body. He would have to put up with it though, at least for the time being. He held his breath as the teacher approached. Since this was the only cover in sight, if the teacher decided that he was hiding…

"…They all ran away, didn't they?"

The boy sighed a breath of relief. If he assumed that, he probably wouldn't check here. Not that the teacher was wrong. The commotion must have tipped him off. Assuming they ran away was only logical. If the boy had been able to move a little earlier, he would have done the same thing. The teacher sighed.

"Ah…Why did I have to call out like that? Note to self: next time don't give away your position."

And at that very moment, a girl's joyous scream was heard along with the splash of the water. Instantly, the teacher reacted.

"I told you to not enter the pool yet!"

For a second, the teacher stood still, as if he was considering something. Shaking his head, he muttered under his breath.

"Gonna have to work on that…"

The teacher turned around and begun to head back, the boy carefully adjusting his position in accordance. He waited until he could no longer hear the footsteps. Once they had faded, he sighed heavily and returned back to the daylight.

It was likely the most intense thing he had done in his entire life.

What was he to do now? There was no way he was returning to the weight room now, not with all those boys there. And after his experience with the filth under the stands, he thought as he brushed a rotten banana peel out of his hair, he no longer felt hungry. Maybe he could just take a nap.

Without realizing it, he had stumbled back to the same spot where the hole was. For a second, he regarded it. Then, shrugging his shoulders, he plopped onto the ground and listened.

The melody behind him in the locker room had continued this entire time. He smiled in spite of himself. Something about that song was special. He imagined that some sort of angel would sing it. It had some mysterious power that could cheer even him up, no matter what he had just gone through.

"Hey, that's a nice melody!" He heard a girl call out from the locker room "I've never heard it on the radio before!"

The singing stopped.

"I-it's something I came up with…"

She had a timid voice. Much gentler than he would of thought.

"No kidding? What do you want to call it?"

The boy pressed his ear against the hole, for he wanted to know the title as well. One day he would find it again, once it had become famous.

"…I'm not sure yet."

"Aww, really? Well, don't worry about it, you'll come up with something!"

"T-thank you."

"Hey, we need to get going. The teacher is waiting for us."

"Y-yes! I'll be right out."

Hearing that the song had no name, the boy felt a sense of shock. A song like that deserved some recognition, and how would it achieve that without a name? Was she planning on keeping that song to herself? No, she was humming it to herself in public. So that meant she didn't think much of her own masterpiece. She didn't even know what she had. A talent that he could only dream of. What a waste. If that were the case, he would just ask her to sing it next class and point out how great it was.

It was at that moment he realized that he didn't know what the girl looked like. Hurriedly he peeped through the hole once more, but the girls had already left. He had missed his opportunity. But he was not deterred. That song had inspired him more than anything had ever before. That song was going to be heard around the world. And he would make sure of that.


	2. Sweet Voices

Finding her was more difficult than he thought.

Of course, the boy had guesses. Looking around his class, he could easily picture any number of girls being the owner of the voice.

But considering how he had heard the song, he knew he couldn't very well go up and ask the girls. And if he made up a story where he heard it by chance, he couldn't prove it. It would suspicious no matter what he said.

He had hoped that if he could find the girl that sang that song, he might have been able to convince her to keep the fact that he had heard it while he was outside the girl's locker room to herself. Judging by the timid voice she had while speaking normally, he was pretty sure she would agree, or at the very least, not make a scene.

But if he wanted to keep his accidental peeping a secret, he would only have one chance to pick which girl it was. There was no room for error.

He had done his research. He had checked the roster for his training class and looked up the girls' choir club. There were exactly four girls in his class that were also in the choir group. He was surprised that it wasn't higher considering that the training class would actually be an appealing elective to take if you wanted to appear on stage, but he wasn't going to question it.

Now if he could somehow infiltrate that club and listen to each of the four girls' voices, he could probably identify which one it was. It was his best bet anyway. As for how to get in, well, he knew for a fact that the boys' choir club practiced in the same room.

And so for the first time ever as a student, he expressed his interest in a club. His teachers were overjoyed, albeit slightly confused as he was not taking a music class. But they decided not to question it, since joining a club meant one less slacker on their hands.

Once classes ended, the boy made his way to his new club. The practice room was a huge auditorium, a setting where sound could easily travel. On the stage stood a well-dressed thin man wearing tiny spectacles. He had a curly moustache and slick, greasy hair. The boy almost gagged at the sight of him.

The thin man looked over at the boy and gave a curt, unfriendly smile. The boy introduced himself as a new member of the club, to which the man nodded and beckoned him to take his place with the rest of the boys. Not wanting to miss his opportunity, the boy quickly head to the back.

The lesson started normally enough. The boy pretended to sing as the teacher guided them through some group songs. Constantly, the boy checked the clock. It wouldn't be long now.

But suddenly, the teacher began to call the boys individually to sing a solo. The boy cursed inwardly. Of course, it made sense. Obviously, this would allow for better judgement of each of their singing voice. Unfortunately, he personally didn't have one.

He was near the back, so the boy had time. But inevitably, he was called to the front. Gritting his teeth like a man sentenced to be hanged, he made his way to the front. Best to get it over with. Closing his eyes, he sang the designated part.

Snickers filled the room as the regular choir members struggled to hold their laughter. He ignored them. Finally, in what felt like an eternity, he finished and opened his eyes.

The thin man regarded him with merciless eyes.

"Do it again."

By the end of the session, the boy had sang the same verse six-to-seven times, he had lost count. Each time, the snickers grew louder before eventually turning into an open mocking as the choir boys realized that their harassment would be ignored. And each time he finished he would meet the instructor's stern disapproving gaze.

He was drained. The teacher sighed and looked at the clock.

"Dismissed. Those who didn't go today will do so next time."

The choir teacher stared at him like he was a dead fish. Heaving another exasperated sigh, he addressed the boy directly before turning his back.

"I don't think you're cut out for this, boy."

The choir group chortled as they left, a couple of them slapping the boy on the back thanking him for the show. The boy, of course, stood his ground. He had not forgotten what he had come for. And although it was agonizing to be reminded of his cursed mediocrity, it would all be worth it if he could hear that song once more.

The boy called out to the teacher before he left. He asked the teacher if he could stay for the girl's session. Maybe he could learn from them, he lied.

The teacher sighed.

"I don't usually allow this, but in your case I don't see why not…but if you don't improve by next time, I want you out of my club."

The boy happily agreed to that, though he did so with a serious face. He hadn't been planning to stick around this uptight snob anyway.

When the girl's session began, the teacher gave a short explanation for the boy's presence before diving into the lesson. Try as he might, the boy could not distinguish the different voices of the girls grouped together. Relaxing in one of the audience seats, he supposed he might as well wait for the solos.

And they came. The boy eagerly leaned forward in his chair. Each time one of the names of the girls from his training class was called. He paid close attention to their voices.

The first girl's voice was much too high.

The second girl's voice was much too low.

The third girl had the voice of an angel. It was absolutely perfect. The boy could tell that this girl was the star pupil of the class. The way that the teacher lauded every aspect of her performance made him slightly sick to his stomach. But-

This was not the same girl. He could tell that much. This girl was filled to the brim with confidence and composure. There was no way this was the same person that sang softly to herself as she was changing clothes. She was just too perfect. This girl was going to be a star no matter what happened.

So it had to be the fourth girl then. Much like him, she must have been at the very back. It made sense, he figured. A timid girl who didn't want to stand out would be in the back. The fourth girl was her. He was positive of that.

And so he waited with baited breath as each of the girls in the back were called to deliver their performances. Since the teacher only made a few of them repeat their solos, all of them were going to be called. And so the boy waited until the very last girl was called. But it wasn't her name. It wasn't the name that he knew from his training class.

After the girls had been dismissed and had left the building, the boy approached the teacher, who was packing up his notes in a bag as pompous looking as its owner, and asked about the girl. The teacher frowned.

"Her? Ah…so that's how it is, huh? Sorry, kid. Your girlfriend called in sick."

The boy blushed and try to explain that the girl wasn't his girlfriend to which the teacher simply said 'whatever' and went on his way.

The next day the boy appeared at the choir practice again much to the delight of the other choir students and the chagrin of the teacher. Learning his lesson, the teacher did not ask for another solo. However, between the boys and girls classes, he addressed the boy privately.

"Just because your girlfriend sings doesn't mean you need to. You should do what you came here to do."

It wasn't much help considering that he didn't really come here to do anything in particular. He reassured the teacher of his intentions, prompting another heavy sigh from the thin man, before turning his attention to the girl's lessons.

The girl was still absent.

The next day the boy made his way to the auditorium again. And once again, the teacher didn't ask him for solos.

"Look." The teacher told him during the change. "You clearly don't even want to sing. Not only have you not asked to do solos, but I can't even hear you in the group songs. And trust me, I've been listening for you. You're not here just to hear your girlfriend sing, are you?"

The boy told him he was not wrong (except for the girlfriend bit). But he also firmly stated that that he was going to keep coming. Every sentence he spoke seemed to prompt a sigh from the instructor.

A week or so passed. During this time, the teacher had given up trying to dissuade the boy from coming. However, he had made the boy promise to leave him alone once he heard his 'girlfriend' sing. He agreed. That was all the boy needed. Once he saw the girl, he could easily seek her out on his own free time. He had a lot of that to spare.

Then finally, on a fateful day, the boy finally saw her. He instantly noticed the new face that he had been looking for all the time. Still, he excitedly questioned the teacher for confirmation.

"Yeah, that's her. Your girlfriend. Thank God…." He muttered the last bit to himself.

At that moment, the boy could of left. He had seen the face, and the teacher seemed particularly keen to get rid of him. But since he was here, he might as well take the opportunity to listen to her again. He couldn't wait to be entranced once again.

The teacher continued on with the lesson, the boy straining himself trying to pick out the new girl's voice. He couldn't quite make it out. But the group songs sounded a little bit better. More cohesive, he thought.

Finally, the solos came. The boy starting a mental countdown in his head. Finally, it was her turn. He practically jumped out of seat in anticipation. He waited impatiently for the teacher to finish marking notes of the girl who had just went. Finally, the teacher looked up to call the next girl. Seeing who it was, he hesitated, delaying his announcement to the boy's annoyance. The teacher turned to give the boy a sideways glance, before finally calling out in a tired voice.

"Candy."

The boy stared back at the teacher, baffled. Did he hear right? Why would the teacher suddenly call out for candy? Did he all of a sudden develop a craving for sweets now of all times?

To his shock, the girl who he had been observing all this time stepped forward, swaying her hips in a obscenely suggestive manner. Her name was not Candy. It wasn't supposed to be Candy. He had scanned both the training class and the choir rosters- no one's name was God damn Candy! What the hell was going on?

"Hey, sweetie." The girl spoke up. "Ready to have your heart melted by my performance?"

The teacher narrowed his eyes distastefully. "Just sing the verse."

"Ehh…That's no fun! How about I give you a dance too? Come on," Her voice dropped down to a sultry whisper. "It'll be _fun."_

The teacher turned his head in disgust. Of course such a troublesome boy would pick a troublesome girl as his lover. A girl who wanted to be addressed by a nickname as silly as Candy, of all things. He swiveled around to give the boy a piece of his mind.

But he was already gone.


	3. Forgotten Melody

He had made a huge mistake. The boy thought to himself as he sprinted as far away from the auditorium as he could. A very huge mistake.

Of course, it was his fault. Had he paid more attention to his training class, he would have known that there was a girl who preferred to be addressed as Candy. She had an exceptional figure. Everything he was not when it came to athletics and arts. All the boys always talked about her. She was a popular figure all over the school. But she was notoriously known as… a bit of an imp. He never once paid attention. To think such a girl was in his very class!

What an idiot!

The boy ran blindly, trying to escape his thoughts. He didn't know how many people he shoved through in the hallways, nor how many doors he passed. At last, he burst through door that led to the exit of the school, only then pausing to stop to catch his breath.

He cursed. Of all the places to be, he had managed to end up back in the place that had started it all. The sports field in front of him was now being occupied by a club of some sort, but he could still make out the dull, sinister, imposing figure of the weight room across from him. It was a painful reminder of his failures. Sighing, he turned to look across the wall on the side he was on. As if led by morbid curiosity, he wondered idly if the hole in the girl's locker room where he heard her voice was still there. Casually, not caring about the crowd of people on the field and the problems they might cause, he began to search for it.

It was right there where he remembered it. He regarded before heaving a sigh. What good would it do for him now? Was he expecting the girl to be singing there again? It was pointless.

The energy sapped out from him, he slouched mindlessly against the wall with the hole. He could think of nothing to do. He suddenly became aware of all the uncomfortable things around him. The sun burned onto his skin. The flies buzzed nosily around the air. And even the wall he slouched against didn't feel comfortable against his back. Gradually, he figured it must have been the hole that was causing the annoyance. But he didn't really feel like moving, so he stayed in that position.

A nap sounded appropriate right now.

But before he even had so much as time to close his eyes, a black and white ball rolled in front of him. A soccer ball, he remembered. An ordinary looking girl, dressed in a soccer uniform with her brown hair tied back in a ponytail, was chasing after it. Seeing the boy, she called out.

"H-hey…Could you…um…D-do you mind kicking that back?"

The boy groaned as he got off the wall. Of course something like this would happen when he was about to try to sleep. Even fate was toying with him now.

Frustrated, he picked up the ball and punted the ball back, causing the girl to give a startled 'Waah!' in response. As it traveled through the air, he observed the ball in disdain. Off target. It always was.

The girl was a lot quicker than he expected, however. Quickly dashing to the side, she found the place under the ball and caught it. He supposed he should be thankful that she saved his awkward pass. It meant that he didn't have to apologize.

The girl gave the ball a powerful kick back to the other players. Before leaving, she turned and gave a slight bow to the boy.

"T-thank you!" She squeaked.

Tch. He hadn't done anything to really deserve being thanked for. What, was he going to make the girl come get the ball herself when it literally rolled in front of him? Even he wasn't such a despicable person.

The girl trembled slightly in place as she realized that he was not acknowledging her appreciation. Did she do something wrong? Awkwardly, the two just stood there, the boy refusing to say anything, and the girl not willing to leave until he did.

"HEY! Stop flirting and come play!"

The sudden voice of one of her teammates jolted the girl back to her senses. She looked back at the field, where a group of soccer girls stood around waiting impatiently.

"B-but…he's not saying anything!" She called back.

The teammate who had called out to her before, a taller, older girl who also sported a brown ponytail and was holding the soccer ball, answered back in an obviously fake impersonation of a male voice.

"Thank you, miss! Will you marry me?"

"W-wha?! I…"

The group of soccer players laughed merrily as the girl blushed fiercely.

"Joking, joking!" The tall girl chortled. "But seriously, how are we going to play without our ace player? We need you, girl!"

"Yeah, what she said!"

"Come on, captain!"

"All right!" The girl called back. "All right! Stop it already!"

The group of soccer players gave a cheer and spread out over the field. At last, the girl headed back to the field, but not before giving the boy one final look.

"Thank you." She whispered. And then she walked off humming.

The boy heard her and sighed. Though she meant well, she had made him feel even worse. This was all he was ever good for. Simple tasks like kicking a ball back. And even then he had almost screwed it up. He had felt mocked by the girl. And to top it all off, she was humming the exact same tune that the locker room girl was, it was as if she was mocking him, even if she did not know it. Why did it have to be that exact same-

The exact same…

The boy's eyes shot open. That…that was her, wasn't it? It had to be! That song…that song!

And she was going. Once she reached her friends, he doubted he would have another chance to talk to her. But his nerves were in a frenzy. For a second he had cold feet.

He shook his head violently. Here he was, about to let the most talented person he knew walk away before he even had a chance to talk to her. With a rush of determination, he pushed himself off the wall and called out.

"Hey! Wait!"

The girl jumped and turned around startled, just in time to see him stumble forward in a panic. Flushed, he straightened himself. Deeply embarrassed, he searched his head desperately for something to say, blurting out the first thing that came to mind.

"T-that song! What er…what did you want to call it?"

The girl blinked, puzzled, before his question clicked in her mind. He was asking about the small tune she was humming, she figured. Just a school girl's ordinary creation in her own personal opinion, but she always sang it to cheer her teammates up after a tough loss or just to herself when she needed it for confidence. That was all it would ever be.

"I'm not sure yet." She responded. It was the second time she gave that answer.


	4. Duet

The boy sat on the bleachers to watch her soccer practice. Although she was called captain by the rest of the team, it wasn't because of her superior skill, he realized. She was proficient enough at dribbling and passing, but what really set her apart from her team was her leadership. She wasn't just an ordinary leader either. She controlled the pace of the team's movements. On offense, she and her teammates implemented a speedy attack that any defense would struggle to keep up with. On defense, she appeared to be everywhere at once. A natural ball hawk, and she never seemed to run out of energy. It wasn't because she was any more athletically gifted than her teammates. She was just putting in twice as much effort, and having fun doing so.

It was no wonder she was a key member in the soccer club. Even though he had no clue what was going on, her control of the game alone left him feeling impressed, as well as slightly envious. It wasn't something that he could dream of doing in a million years.

Still, as good of a soccer player as she was, he knew she could be just as good of a singer, if not better. He was sure of that. Singing came naturally for her. She had the unbridled potential to change lives with her voice. But she didn't know it. She just had to realize it. And if he could help her…if he could help her become someone that great…

Then…his life wouldn't be such a waste after all...

That was all he truly needed.

After practice was over, he rushed over to the field. The girl looked at him apprehensively. Having just finished her soccer practice, she wasn't in her best condition. He was probably coming over to tease her, she figured.

"Can I talk to you?" He said.

She opened her eyes wide in surprise. She had not expected something direct like that. Seeking reassurance, she looked over at her teammates, quickly dismayed to find knowing smirks on their faces.

"S-sure." She responded nervously. "What do you want to talk about?"

The boy looked at the other girls hesitantly. Though he wanted to ask her about the song right away, he stopped to consider what would happen if the girl didn't want to be an idol. Not to mention saying something of that nature may get her teased. He didn't want any of them to get the wrong idea.

"…Would you mind if we talked later at a restaurant in a couple hours?"

"A-at a resturaunt?!" The girl repeated, taking a step back. The boy, surprised at such a rapid reaction, instinctively stepped forward, reaching out a hand to see if she was okay. The soccer girls tittered in the background, whispering words he could not hear. The girl, however, was close enough to make out some of the phrases.

"Ooh…is he asking her out?"

"Never thought she'd be before me, I'm so jealous~!"

"And he's not that bad looking is he? I mean, yeah, our captain could probably do better…"

"Isn't that the guy who's like, failing every subject? Of course, she could do better!"

"But to ask it in front of all of us? Say what you want, but I like a guy with guts."

"What do you think she'll say?"

The girl felt trapped. Behind her were a crowd of her gossiping teammates fervently discussing and observing her as if she were a show of some sort. In front of her stood the boy who still had a hand held out. Oblivious to whispers about him, he continued to move forward. She continued to retreat backward into the babbling group, into the giggles and whispers, into uncertainty.

She felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see her tall senior smiling at her reassuringly.

"It's your choice." Her twinkling eyes seemed to say.

She looked at the boy. She took a deep breath. And then she nodded.

"...Okay."

She closed her eyes, bracing for the 'oohs' that would surely come from her teammates behind her.

The group of girls behind her, however, remained quiet. Unbeknownst to her, her senior was presently fixing them a scorching glare, effectively hushing the gossipers.

"Great!" The boy let out a sigh, relieved that she was fine with it. "Um, where do you want to go? I don't have that much money...the fast food place next to the school alright with you?"

The girl nodded blankly, her mind still having trouble comprehending what she had agreed to.

The boy sighed in relief. Having finally set up a chance to talk with the girl about her song, it had felt as if a giant weight had been lifted off his chest. Not wanting to stick around the girl and her group of teammates, the latter of which were oddly glaring at him as if he had murdered someone, he hastily turned around and left with one final phrase.

"See you at 6..."

At 5, the girl arrived at the local fast food joint. She was well aware that she had arrived early; she was the only one there and had to wave off the bored waitress a countless number of times. After practice was over, she had rushed to her room and took a shower. The rest of her time was spent on deciding what to wear. Once she had finally decided after looking over her wardrobe a few times, she was too nervous to think of anything else to do, so she simply left early. Upon arriving, it occurred to her that an hour was an awfully long time to wait. But she wasn't going to go back now that she was here. Making her way to a table, she sipped on a diet cola and watched the clock, shifting restlessly in her chair to get in a comfortable position.

An hour was long enough for her mind to wander. Why was she so nervous? She hardly knew the boy. In fact, the soccer practice was the first time she had ever spoke to him. He was in one of her classes as well, her physical training one. But he never drew attention to himself, like the other boys in their class. It was quite the surprise that he would ask her out like this. It wasn't some sort of trap, was it?

She hoped not. This was her first date, after all. And what a terrible experience it could be, with a boy like that! She had to wonder why she agreed in the first place. She blamed it on her tall friend. Had her senior not intervened, she could of easily ran away from the whole mess that she was in. And her teammates in the background, just waiting to tease her for whatever decision she made...surely the pressure must of got to her head. No matter what happened on this date, it was not her fault!

And no matter how much she didn't want to admit it, she knew her heart fluttered a little when she thought of the word "date". Just as it did back there...

But that was neither here nor there. Finishing her thoughts, she glanced expectantly at the clock. Five minutes had passed. Incredulously, she checked again. Only five minutes? There was still just about half an hour left! She sighed and leaned back in her chair, only to correct her posture rigidly as someone approached her table.

It was the waitress. The server rolled her eyes before asking the girl if she would like a refill. Sheepishly, the girl handed over her cup. She leaned back in her seat and took long deep breaths. She had to calm down. Relax. Luckily for her, she had a foolproof way of doing just that.

The girl shut her eyes and with it, the world around her. Singing softly to herself, she recited her favorite tune, and dreamed about her upcoming soccer match.

A little more than half an hour later, the boy arrived at the restaurant, now considerably more crowded considering the hour. He was a little late, he realized, but considering the nature of his meeting with the girl, he was sure that it would be okay. It was possible that she had not even arrived yet, since he had more or less forced the time upon her as he was fleeing the piercing scowls of her teammates.

Keeping that in mind, he gave a description of the girl to the waitress and asked if she had seen her arrive yet. The waitress rolled her eyes in an unprofessional manner and pointed at a direction at the far end of the restaurant. The boy thanked her and made his way over, too pleasantly surprised of the girl's punctuality to notice the waitress muttering darkly under her breath.

He couldn't find her. Had she already left? He turned around to reconfirm with the waitress but she too was nowhere to be seen. The boy took a step back and took another look at the corner. A group of friends were noisily eating and chatting in front of him. Behind them were a few smaller tables with cushioned seats prompted up against a wall. A few couples were eating there, as well a pair of boys who were by their lonesome. At the end of the row, a girl in a soft white sleeve dress who was not eating, sat slouched against the back of her seat, drooling slightly. She was asleep, he realized. Definitely a weird combination, the boy thought, but if she had been there long enough to fall asleep, perhaps she had some idea where the girl he was looking for was. He made his way over to her before a thought struck him. How was one supposed to wake a sleeping girl? Maybe he should tell her he was concerned for her safety? But he was going to ask her something right after. How was she going to react? As he pondered these questions, he was able to get a longer look at the girl. She had pretty brown hair which was tied back in a ponytail. Much like the girl he met back then, he thought. In fact, she had the same face and complexion. Wait…

His jaw dropped in realization. He had never seen the girl out of an athletic uniform. Was it possible that this girl in the pretty clothes...was this her?

There was only one way to find out. Reaching out a trembling hand, he grabbed her shoulders and gave her a shake.

The girl murmured sleepily before finally opening her eyes. As she tried to clear her head, she saw a blurry outline of a figure in front of her. Oh, it was that boy, she figured out.

Huh?

She snapped awake and hastily wiped the drool off her mouth. How embarrassing! She had fallen asleep. The soccer practice must have taken more out of her than she had thought, and then she had burned her brain with worried thoughts for an hour. And now, oh geez, this was all going wrong!

"Were you waiting long?!" She blurted out.

"Not as long as you were, it seems." The boy responded with a smile. She was here after all.

The girl blushed and stared at the ground. "S-sorry. I didn't mean to make you wait."

"But you were here long before me." The boy chuckled.

"Y-yeah. But I'm still sorry."

"It should be me who apologizes. Were you waiting long?"

"N-no! I just got here!" The girl responded desperately.

The boy knew immediately it was a lie. Who falls asleep upon arriving at a resturaunt? But he was glad she was trying to be kind to him. It wasn't something he was used to.

But business was business. He had come here for one reason and one reason alone. To become a part of greatness. He just had to find out if greatness was willing.

Sitting down opposite of her, he conjured the friendliest smile he could.

"Let's talk."

The girl blushed. This was her chance to clear up her mistake. Agreeing to something like this was too much. If she could just speak up at the beginning, so he could understand...

The boy, unaware of his companion's anxious movements, opened his menu.

"What would you like? Cheeseburgers sound alright?"

The girl opened and shut her mouth, not uttering a single sound. The boy, not looking up from his menu, took her silence as a yes and waved the waitress, who had since reappeared, and confirmed the order.

Upon hearing the order and writing it down, the waitress gave the silent girl a mocking glance.

"Oh? And here I thought you were a confused anorexic." She muttered, just audibly, before turning away.

The boy frowned at those words.

"Well, that was...rude." He stated. "We should talk to the manager about her." Turning to face the girl, he gave another attempt at a friendly smile. "Now, about what I wanted to talk abo-"

"This is too fast!" She blurted out, much to his confusion. "I-I don't even know you that well!"

Well, that was certainly a valid point, the boy thought. He was a little disappointed she was starting to have second thoughts now, of all times. But, if he could just say what he needed to say-

"T-this is my first...date."

...Uh, what? What did she just say? He must of misheard.

"Sorry, what?"

"It's my first date, okay? I-I didn't think it would happen like this!" She covered her head, hiding her face. "I...have n-nothing against you, of course...it's just..."

"Date?" The boy repeated. What was this? This had to be a joke. Why would someone like her think she was going on a date with someone like him?

Though, now that he thought about it, there was no reason for her to be this well dressed, since this was only supposed to be a short talk. Had she really thought this was a date? He thought it over. What reason would she think it was a date when he had simply asked her to talk to him at a resturaunt? Put simply, an ordinary boy had asked an ordinary girl to go out to eat. Alone.

...

...Oh.

Realizing this, the boy put his hands up and tried to clear the misunderstanding.

"This isn't a date!"

"I-it's not?"

Aw crud, he thought as he looked at the girl. She looked panicked. Or was it simply confusion? He wasn't great at reading emotions. Average, at best.

Regardless, he couldn't leave it like this. Not when he needed her to have a level head.

"It can be if you want it to be!"

"Wha-!"

Oh, that didn't quite work out, he thought. She looked a little bit more panicked now. Or was it more confused? No, it was definitely panic, seeing she was looking at him like he was a monster and trembling in fear.

"Er, that is, um..." The boy sighed. "I just wanted to talk to you about your song..."

"My...my song?" The girl repeated, gaping at him.

"Yeah...your song...the one that you were humming while you were playing soccer a few hours ago."

"O-oh...that song...Wait, was that why you called me out here?"

"Well I- yeah. Yeah it was." He admitted sheepishly.

Simple things. It was a simple thing to do. All he needed to do was to talk about her song. That was it. And yet, somehow even this he had screwed up. The girl was surely not going to talk now. How, how could he be so incompetent? Why could he never do anything he wanted?

For the corner of his ear he heard soft laughter. Turning, he realized it was the girl. Was she mocking him? No...he didn't get that vibe. Curious, he stared at her. What was going on in her mind?

The girl eventually took notice of the boy's gaze.

"S-sorry." She tried muffle her laughter as she spoke. "It's just that...I was so worked up over this. And...well, it was just silly, wasn't it?"

Yeah, he thought. Yeah it was.

It was a while before the two were able to talk to each other normally. By the time that the absurdity finally settled in, the waitress had already come and gone, dropping off two wrapped cheeseburgers with a disgruntled expression at the two of them.

It had been ten minutes since then. Two fully wrapped cheeseburgers lay on the table, completely ignored, as the boy finally got to talk to the girl about what he came for. Though it was she who first broke the silence.

"So what exactly did you want to ask about my song?" She frowned. "I still don't have a name for it."

"That's fine." he quickly reassured her. "I didn't come here to ask about that."

The girl peered curiously at him. It was a little weird, she thought. Why would someone be so interested in a boring school girl's creation?

The boy paused to think. Would it throw her off if he asked her directly if she thought about being an idol? Likely, it was just one song after all. A song that was so amazing that it had saved a boy with no motivation in his time of need. A song that had the mysterious and powerful ability to cheer up anyone no matter who they were and what they had gone through. A song that he knew the rest of the world needed to hear.

But the girl didn't seem to think the same way about it. To her, it was some arbitrary tune to hum to herself or sing to her friends when they needed it. And keeping that in mind, the boy decided to ease into it.

"How did you come up with the melody?" He asked her. Finding more about the origins could help lead into more discussion, he figured.

The girl looked surprised at the question. 'You called me out to ask that?' her face seemed to say. Nonetheless, she replied, figuring she should if he was willing to go through so much trouble to hear it.

"I'm not sure." She answered truthfully. "It was something I came up with one day, you know? On a whim." She tilted her head slightly, attempting to recall the memory. "I think one day I was pretending to be a singer, and I made it up, and it's been stuck in my head ever since." She paused before adding. "Oh, yeah, I remember, my family was in the middle of a falling out, and I wanted to sing it to cheer someone up. No, to cheer everyone up, together." She scratched her cheek, sheepishly. "I guess it's kinda embarrassing to say it out loud."

The boy's heart soared when he heard she was pretending to be a singer. But he managed to stay calm as he asked.

"Did it work?"

"Did it...? Oh, my family? Yeah, I brought them all together and sang it to them, and they made up afterwards. I don't think it was the song by itself though. Just all of us there together, doing something as a family, realizing how wonderful it is. That's what really did it, I think. And I guess that's why I've kept this song near my heart this entire time," the girl finished. She had a happy look on her face. It must have been a good memory.

Hearing her story and seeing the girl looking that content, the boy couldn't help but smile as well. Even though it wasn't something he was used to, he always seemed to be smiling around her. She was really something special, that girl.

And he knew she was simply discrediting herself for something incredible that she had done. Her family had been falling apart, and she was the one who brought them all together, and she was the one who sang for all of them, and she made them realize how wonderful it was to gather as a family and listen to their little girl sing such a joyful melody. It was hard proof that she had amazing power-

She just needed to figure that out.

"You pretended to be a singer, right?" He asked.

The girl nodded.

"Yes. Just a small girl's fantasy."

"Did you...ever want to become one?"

The girl widened her eyes, surprised at the question. Seeing this, the boy was glad he didn't lead off with the question, but still he wondered if he asked too soon. The girl hesitated on her response.

"Well...I...it's not like I never dreamed about being a singer, but...I mean, I don't know. Trying to be a singer is tough. The competition for that field is super strong and filled with talent. And, well, I'm just me. What chance would I have, against them?"

"I think you would have a chance."

"...Really...?"

The boy nodded. He was expecting a response like this. In fact, he thought the same thing quite often. But this was different. He had tried and failed first. She never tried. She could actually do it.

The girl still looked unsure.

"I don't know...y-you're not just saying that to be kind, are you? I gave up that dream a long time ago. And to just be told that...are you sure?"

The boy vigorously nodded. He made sure to look straight in her eyes, to attest just how serious he was and exactly what he thought of her.

"I'm positive."

The girl held his eyes for a few seconds. But just when he thought he had convinced her, she shook her head and turned away.

"No, I don't think I can do this." She glanced at him. "I just don't know. I don't know if I can throw away everything else to chase after an old fantasy. And no offense to you, you're a really nice guy...but I've just met you today. You've only heard me sing once, too. So, uh, don't take this the wrong way...but I don't know if I can trust you."

The boy felt crushed. He had come this close, she was just about to agree, he felt it. But in the end, he just wasn't good enough. He couldn't blame her. If he was in her position, he would of done the same thing. Who would trust a lazy, useless delinquent out of the blue? It was a miracle that he had gotten her to talk for this long. He just simply wasn't qualified to make such an important decision for her.

Then in that case, he would just have to bring her to someone that was.

"How about you sing for the choir club? I know their teacher."

The girl looked at the boy, her mouth dropping open.

"You're in choir?!"

"Well, not exactly..." He clarified.

"Ah, sorry! I didn't mean to be rude, it's just, well, you didn't look the type..."

"Yeah, I get it. So, how about it though?"

"...I can't. I'm in soccer club."

"Just take one day off? Just sing once for the club. That's enough. Let the teacher hear your voice."

The girl sighed.

"Just once? Well...okay. I guess it couldn't hurt."

The boy gave a silent whoop. He had done it. Surely the teacher wouldn't mind being bothered one more time. And when the snobby sponsor heard her voice and told her how great she truly was, she couldn't ignore the professional guidance.

And then she would be well on her way to greatness. And then he could say he was a part of it.

Turning to leave, the boy called out to the stunned girl.

"See you tomorrow afternoon!"

He had gotten up and was about to walk off when he realized that he was about to force the time on her again. This time, he had no excuse for doing so.

"Does that work for you?" He reaffirmed turning to face her once more.

"Yes, but-"

"Great! See you then!" The boy bounded out of the building with excitement.

Now alone, the girl looked down at the table. Two unwrapped cheeseburgers sat returning her gaze. The boy's sudden departure had caught the attention of the waitress from before, and the service worker was currently staring at her warily.

Apologizing quietly, the girl got up and exited as well, leaving the sighing waitress to clear the table of the untouched meal.


	5. Spotlight

The thin, mustached choir teacher next to him shot him some unfriendly gazes as his class chatted noisily in background, but the boy ignored them.

He was nervously watching the clock as he waited for her to appear. The girl. He had given her the right place hadn't he?

He hoped so. It had taken every bit of what little dignity he had to convince the teacher to make some time to listen to her before they began practice, and if she didn't show well, that would just be awkward.

But that was something he didn't have to worry about. With perfect timing, the boy caught the girl peeping in uncertainly through the door. He gestured to her, and she gulped before walking up to him and the teacher.

"...Well, let's get this over with." The teacher said as he looked over the girl, as if evaluating her. "He wanted so desperately for me to hear you sing, so get on with it."

"U-uh…" The girl trailed off, hesitation clear in her voice. She glanced over at the boy and caught him peering at her eagerly. It was nice and all for him to go out of the way like this but...

She had never prepared for a situation like this. Was she supposed to start singing, right here? She looked over on the stage, where a whole lot of girls sat chatting away at who knows what. Some of them had noticed her with the boy and the teacher and they looked over curiously.

Singing in front of all those people. It made her really uneasy.

But he had gone so far out of his way, the boy. It would be rude to not at least make an effort. So taking one shaky breath, she tried to sing. But her voice was quiet and shaky.

The teacher furrowed his brow and leaned an ear forward.

"Hey, sing louder. I can barely hear you and I'm right in front of you. Hold on." The teacher stood up and addressed himself to the choir girls. "QUIET!" And it was so. Now completely silent, and with all eyes directed toward him, the teacher lowered himself right back to the girl's side. "Now start again," he commanded.

The girl had stopped singing. And instead of starting, she nervously shook in place. Now all eyes were on her. She had all the attention. It wasn't something she wasn't used to, as a soccer player. But as a singer…well, it wasn't something she had signed up for. And with all those eyes on her, she couldn't help but wonder...what if she really wasn't that good as the boy had said she was? What if she ended up making a fool of herself? It was enough to freeze her in place.

The boy himself could tell something wasn't right. She didn't have the poise he had seen she had before. This was nothing like how she sang before in the soccer field. It was forced. Did he rush things too fast?

He reached out to her.

"Hey...what's up?" He whispered.

His voice seemed to jolt the girl. But not in the way that he had hoped. She jumped back with a wild look in her eye.

"I-I can't do this!" And with those words, before anyone could react, the girl scampered away from the room as fast as she could.

"H-hey, wait!" He called out way too late. His stomach dropped. Bewildered, he turned to meet the face of the thin teacher.

The man sighed and pointedly turned away from him to face the dead silent girls choir.

"We begin our lesson now," he said, as if he were determined to forget the last few minutes he had wasted with the boy.

He took the hint. Without another word, the boy got up and followed the girl's footsteps, leaving the room.

Outside of the door, he sighed and leaned against the wall. What happened? Well, as he stopped to take a moment to think about it, it was obvious. Here he was expecting her to sing just as she had before. But the circumstances were far from the same. This was her first time in front of a ton of people she didn't know doing something she wasn't sure she was comfortable doing.

He had messed up big time. He sighed again. He doubted he could get her to try to sing again. Guess there was no denying it. He had failed again. Once again, he was nothing more than a failure. Depression hit as he stood and thought about how he was going to spend the rest of his time at the school as a good for nothing delinquent. And what would become of him once his time here ended?

"Hey…"

A voice called from behind him. He turned around. There at the doorway to the choir room, a girl met his glance and beckoned to him. He blinked in recognition. This girl, he recognized in an instant. This was the girl he had mistaken to be the owner of the voice when he first began his search. This was Candy.

Seeing nothing better to do, he walked up to her in a complete daze. What did she want?

"Er…" Now that he had approached her, it seemed that she hadn't a very strong idea herself. Or at the very least, she was fidgeting in a pose very unbecoming of the type of person she was.

"That girl…" She said slowly, and the boy snapped to attention. That was all she had to say for him to know who she was talking about. Who else could she have been talking about.

"That girl... she has an amazing voice….doesn't she?"

The boy stared at her incredulously. How would she know? But he nodded all the same.

"Yes, I knew it. That girl. I knew I recognized her. I listened to her sing too, you know." She shook her head. "She's in my training class. Come to think of it you are too."

This caught him by surprise, and he did a double take. Quickly, he tried to right himself, but his expression was not missed.

"Oh? You didn't know me?" She questioned surprised. The boy attempted to bow his head in apology, but before he could, "Haha! That's a nice change. Well, I'm always up for an introduction. My name is Candy, nice to meet you!"

The boy merely returned a confused look. Truthfully, he already knew her name from before, but when he had looked over the roster of his class while he was trying to find the name of who was searching for, he could not recall someone in his class named Candy.

"Ah…" The girl seemed to catch on. "Candy is just a nickname, though. A group of boys I had, um, hanged around started giving me that nickname, and it kinda stuck, you know?"

" _Candy, of course."_

Suddenly that phrase popped in the boy's mind. It was a phrase, he recollected, that one of the boys had answered with when he had asked them what they were going to eat all that time ago when instead they were going to peep. Candy. They meant her.

And with another jolt he realized, that was not the only female voice he heard that day. While he was sitting next to the wall, having avoided the teacher and listening to the girl's song, there was another party with a rather lofty voice that had interrupted the song for a brief moment to hold a conversation.

" _Hey, that's a nice melody! I've never heard it on the radio before!"_

" _I-it's something I came up with…"_

" _No kidding? What do you want to call it?"_

"… _I'm not sure yet."_

" _Aww, really? Well, don't worry about it, you'll come up with something!"_

"I heard her singing in the locker room during the swim unit." Candy admitted. "And I know a thing or two about singing. That was some amazing singing!"

The boy stared at her incredulously. He was there! Well, he couldn't really admit it right here. But who would have thought that something like this would have ever happened.

Candy smiled sweetly as she calmly stared back at him.

"How about I help you out? You want her to be heard? Well, you know what? So do I. You think you could get her to sing again?"

The boy hesitated, but shook his head in the end.

"I see. Well, I expected that answer to be honest. She seems like a pretty shy girl. I'm surprised you even got her to come here in the first place. But, you know, if it's for you, I think she'll sing once more. Maybe she won't come audition again, but I think she'll sing if it's just for you, and only you. What do you think?"

The boy gaped dumbly at her, unsure of how to respond. Candy laughed.

"You don't think so? But I'm sure of it! Call it a woman's intuition. Ugh, that sounds lame. But just try it for me, won't you?"

The boy considered it. Well, what was the harm? He nodded his consent.

"Great! Do it tomorrow at our training class. Meet me as early as you can by the weight room, I'll set up a spot for you. We'll get that song heard. I promise."

And with that Candy turned around and skirted right back into the auditorium, leaving the confused boy to ponder her meaning.

The next day, the boy showed up to weight room as promised. Candy was already there waiting for him.

"Great you're here! Now take this."

Without any warning or hesitation, as if she had done it many times before, she reached over and hooked a tiny contraption to the inside of the boy's shirt. The boy staggered backwards in surprise, but went along with it.

"This weight room is pretty special." Candy continued unperturbed. "It's soundproof you see. No one goes here during this time and I disabled the intercom to make sure there are no distractions. I'll bring her here during class, and then you work your magic, alright?" She giggled. "Oh class is starting, so I better get moving. You stay here, alright? I'll make an excuse for you."

And with that Candy skittered away once again, before the boy could even get in a word. The silent room seemed quite foreign with no one but him in it. He sighed and took a seat at the nearest machine that did who knows what. He wondered exactly how he was supposed to do anything Candy had asked him to do. She had left so quickly. Well, he mused, it was kind of a taste of his own medicine.

Minutes went by, and doubt started to settle in. What if she never came? What if this was just all a big prank by that Candy girl? It certainly seemed like something she would do. But still he remained sitting. There wasn't any point in abandoning the plan now. Besides, what did he have to lose?

He wondered just how long it had been. An hour? It sure felt like it. Time went by slowly as he sat there bored. Worst comes to worst, he would just take a nap here, he figured. And hey, if anything came out of this, he had found a new napping spot. He had never thought that this place would be so quiet during this time.

But a small click distracted him from all thoughts of a nap. The boy jumped to his feet, heart flying to his throat. Was she here?

Sure enough, the door cracked open and the sight of the girl peeping in greeted him. How had Candy done it? But it didn't matter, at least right now. Nearly tripping over himself, he stumbled to the door and waved her inside.

The girl noticed him with wide eyes and froze as if she considered running away, but ultimately she came inside the weight room, shutting the door behind her.

"Hello?" She said timidly, as if she wasn't certain it was really him.

"Uh...hi."

The two stood there in silence before the girl spoke up again.

"I-I don't understand. Why did you need to see me?"

And there it was. The million dollar question. How was he supposed to go about this? Just ask her to sing for you...Candy seemed sure that it would work. So he might as well try.

"Would you...sing for me once again?"

It was the reaction he expected. The girl's wide eyes fixated on him fearfully, and she seemed to shrink from his eyes. He was about to turn around and call it quits, but when she spoke-

"I-I don't know…"

 _I don't know._

He stopped in his tracks. After what he had put her through, how embarrassed she must have been after the whole choir fiasco, he had been certain that there was no way she was saying anything other than no.

But then, there it was. Her uncertainty. It meant she was considering it, right? Was Candy right? Could he actually convince her to sing once more?

The girl must have caught on to what he was thinking because she quickly shook her head and backed away from him into one of the machines.

"W-wait, I don't mean that. N-no…"

She was backtracking now, trying to find a way out of it. She must be remembering how it felt the last time she sang.

"I'm sorry." He apologized.

The girl, not anticipating an apology, blinked in confusion.

"What...are you saying sorry for?"

The boy sighed. Before he attempted to get her to sing again, he needed to clear this first.

"I put you in front of such a large crowd before you were ready. It was too soon. And for that, I'm sorry."

"I-It's okay. You don't have to say sorry for that. I agreed to it after all…"

"No. I didn't give you a choice, did I?"

That day he had ran out on her, before she had a chance to say anything. And it wasn't entirely unintentional. He recalled that she had agreed to it, but was about to say something. It had gone so well up to that point. So he dashed out before she had a chance to say anything.

It was a selfish, despicable move.

"Geez, it's fine really." The girl gave him a timid smile. He returned it, instinctively. She had that type of effect on him.

In any case, it seemed she had calmed down. If there was anytime to pop the question, it was now.

"I won't force you to sing again. It should be your choice, when you're ready." He paused to think. "Just like it was your choice when you sang in front of your family."

The girl blushed, remembering her personal story and how she had shared it. Though she didn't think her own singing have much to do with it, she remembered how amazing it was after she had performed in front of her family. She enjoyed having others listen to her songs. She truly did.

"So...you don't have to agree to this. It's your choice this time. But could you sing that song one more time, right here for me?"

The girl bit her lip as she considered it, and he waited nervously for her response.

"I-if it's just for you...I suppose it's alright."

The boy almost couldn't believe his ears. He had done it. Candy was right? But why? Well, it didn't matter at the moment. If he had a chance to listen to her song, he was going to take it.

"Whenever you're ready." He told her.

The girl took a deep breath, and she steadied herself. Stepping forward, she closed her eyes.

She started humming. It may have just been a way to warm up, but already it had him mesmerized. He dared not take her eyes off her. Slowly, she got louder, and she became more clear. Her poise, her confidence, her timing, it was all there, just as he had remembered it. And she shined once more.

Finally, she broke into a bit of a melody. Just as before, the words weren't necessary. She had the perfect melody, she hit all the right notes. The machines and the emptiness faded away as he listened to her sing. It was enough to put anyone in a trance.

"Whee~" It was so simple. Yet so effective. And the boy had felt just as he had before. This song had to be heard by the world. That it deserved some recognition.

"Lalalala~" This song could move the world. It would echo across the galaxy. If the universe was at war, the boy was certain, at that moment, that the song would bring peace, just as it had done for her family.

Finally the girl slowed down and finished her song. She opened her eyes and blinked. Red in the face, she turned to the boy shakily.

"What did you think?" She murmured timidly.

"It was amazing." The boy replied honestly.

The girl seemed taken aback with his earnest voice. Slowly, she broke out into an appreciative smile, shyly brushing her brown hair out of her eyes.

"Thank you." She bowed her head. "Thank you so much."

After a while, the girl eventually said she had to go back to class. The boy nodded and decided to follow her, since it was also his class in any case.

As he opened the door to the weight room, the glaring sunlight made him blink and he shielded his eyes. A slight buzz roared in his eardrums, and the birds chirping made him realize just how devoid of sound the weight room was.

The girl beside him didn't seem to take much notice. She had only been in there for a short time after all. Unperturbed, she started to walk in the direction that would take them back to their physical training class. The boy quickly followed in her footsteps.

As they continued down that path, the boy frowned. Something seemed off. Though it was initially a sort of silent loudness when he left the weight room, he had expected it to be a bit louder than this. The school itself seemed to be dead silent apart from the birds and the soft buzz. He had snuck around this area quite often, and never was it this...silent.

The girl did not seem to notice, and they continued their trek. They were nearly there now, a couple more turns, and they'd be back in class.

Now something was definitely off. Physical training class was never quiet. There was always some activity or another that had to cause some kind of commotion. But there was nothing to be heard. Wondering exactly what this was all about, the boy caught up to the girl as she turned the last corner-

And they both froze in place. Right there, just as they should be, were all his classmates, and the teacher himself. But instead of running, swimming, or whatever it was they were supposed to be doing, they were all frozen in place. And they were staring right at them.

The boy could tell what was running through the girl's mind in a situation like this. He had been the target of a lot of stares like these before. If they were in trouble, it was his fault. So before she said anything, he had to take responsibility and take the blame. But before he could get a word out.

"There they are, ladies and gentlemen!"

The only person looking their way that didn't looked dumbfounded, Candy was the one who spoke first. It seemed she was in the middle of doing a sit and reach, and she casually finished stretching in the position she was in before jumping up and strolling up to the boy, wrapping her arm around him.

Ignoring the look of shock she was receiving from everyone in the class and the girl right next to her, Candy shot the boy a wink and sly smile.

"Our little couple themselves. Let's give them a nice round of applause for that performance, shall we?"

And though she said it herself, Candy's voice echoed all around the building, loud and clear for everyone to hear. The boy glanced around bewildered, but immediately snapped his head as Candy reached inside his shirt and took out that small contraption she put on him early. Speaking into it directly, her voice was announced through the intercoms scattered around the whole school.

"How about it, eh?"

There was a small silence as everyone simply exchanged glances, and the girl looked on terrified.

Then a small clap was heard, and everyone looked surprised, as the teacher was the one who spoke first.

"That was...something. But don't skip class again."

And just as a cork had been pulled off, all of the classmates broke out into thunderous applause. A few of them whooped and hollered their appreciation. Some others directly walked up to the girl and gave her a hug, much to the girl's surprise, as she was pulled away into a swarm of people congratulating her.

But it wasn't just their class. To his surprise, applause was echoing throughout the entire building. It seemed as if every student and every teacher were all trying to let their applause be heard. Earlier the boy had never heard the school so quiet. And now, he had never heard it be this loud. And since it was all for the girl, despite himself, he didn't mind. To turn a school from one end to another-

This was what her song could do.

The girl finally broke free of her praisers and the boy found her by his side, wide-eyed in disbelief and a frantic, bewildered look. The boy took one glance at her and broke out into a smirk. He could tell that she was trying to look angry at him.

"Y-you recorded me?!"

The boy shook his head, even though it was true. He couldn't contain his smile.

"You did! You monster!"

"Sorry, I didn't know." And it was true. He had suspicions about the contraption, but he would have never guessed it was connected to the intercom itself. How in the world did Candy manage to get this set up?

"You- you-" The girl struggled to come up with something. "I can't believe you did that!"

"I'm sorry." He repeated, apologetically.

"Er…" The girl trailed off. "Well, it's not like I'm that mad or anything. But…" She looked away from him and gazed in wonder at the entire building, cheers and applause still reverberating across the building.

"All that...was for my song?" She wondered out loud, as she turns her attention back to him.

He nodded and smiled earnestly in return, and together they turned back to the school, basking in wonder at the energy that came from her audience.

"I can't believe it...to think my song would do something like this…"

They didn't know it at the time, but in that moment, their lives were changed forever.


	6. Shining Idol

It had been quite some years after that fateful moment. The girl, not having quit soccer, was scouted by a minor B league team. But now having the confidence to sing in front of others, she was also a rising idol.

Truly, she was now someone the boy considered as great. He was perfectly content with leaving her as she was now, and he could always watch her from afar and say that he was once a part of it. There was not much else he could do for her, or so he thought.

To his surprise, she did not feel the same way.

The girl had been breaking out as a star and everyone began wanting in. A shining talent with potential in soccer wasn't too common in the idol industry, and many scouters called, attempting to recruit her into their brand.

The girl, however, turned every single one of them down. She wanted that boy as a manager, she said.

That boy was him. Shocked and uncertain, he tried to tell her that he had no experience in being a manager and that there were certainly better options out there for her. She would hear none of it.

Putting it simply, she told him. Without him, she would refuse to sing.

There were a few reasons she gave him. He was the one that got her to this point in the first place, and he had given her the courage to sing. He had believed in her voice and without that belief she would have never been able to sing like she had that day.

He wasn't sure if he really believed all those reasons, but if he needed to be her manager for her voice to be heard, he would do what he had to do.

It was as difficult as he had expected, but she was patient and helped him through it. There were times where he froze up and wondered why someone like him, of all people, was blessed with this position. If it wasn't for her, he would have likely still been at that school, retaking classes and loafing about, but instead here he was, working diligently on the girl's behalf.

It all came to a head when it came time for the girl's first concert. He was a nervous wreck at that point, hoping against hope that everything turned out okay. In this industry, he knew just how important first impressions were, and this concert could make or break not just this girl's career, but her life.

He had spent the week working on the girl's performance. He had looked over all of her songs. His pens had all run out of ink as he scribbled on each one of them.

He had talked to many of his crew, some of which he didn't even know what their job was. He had to make sure everything was going to be perfect.

He had seen the girl in her attire. He knew in that moment he had never seen her beauty shine so brightly as it did that day. He was rendered speechless as he looked on. He had no choice but to blush and nod when she asked him if she looked alright.

And despite all this, when the dawn of the day arrived, he had not slept a wink, because nightmares of the scene years ago kept forcing him up. The girl running out of the choir room, the deadpan stare of the teacher, and the familiar feeling of dreadful guilt all flashed in his mind as he stood behind the curtain, and the nervousness resulted in the boy swallowing a lump of vomit in his throat more than once.

The show was about to start and he was helpless now. Beads of sweat rolled down his cheek as he stared at the clock, each tick making his heart beat faster. It was a matter of seconds now, and the way his entire body seemed spin, he wondered if he could survive. 10 seconds to go, and he was sure he wouldn't. 5 seconds and he collapsed on the ground, not hearing the yelps of some of the people near him as he continued to count down in his mind.

3...

2...

1…

…

"Hey."

There was a mass amount of mixed voices floating nearby, but this was the only one he heard, and for good reason too.

His eyes shot opened and he looked up to see the girl he was managing, kneeling right beside him, calmly meeting his stare.

His first sensation was shock. Followed soon by panic. The show had started and she wasn't supposed to be here. She was supposed to be out there!

His feelings of dread were only escalated as he started to hear the smattering of voices around him. Outrage from the stage workers, bewilderment from those near him, and confusion with growing impatience from the crowd behind the curtain.

There was no more time to waste, and she had to go. He let her know that as he pointed to the curtain.

"Nuh-uh." The girl shook her head. "You don't sound like yourself."

And that was fine, he said. It didn't matter. Her debut was more important than whatever happened to him.

"No it's not!" She replied sharply. "And you don't sound like yourself at all! I'm not going out there."

Why was she doing this now of all times? Didn't she recognize the consequences of her actions?

"Yes, of course I know." She said. "But even so-" she sighed. "I never would've got up to this point if it wasn't for you. All of this started that one day you found me and asked me to sing for you. All of this, I owe to you.

Right now, you're in terrible condition. It means nothing to me if you can't enjoy it. So I don't mind, really, if I throw away this one lousy concert. If you can't enjoy it with me."

He didn't mean that much. How could she not see that? Right in front of her was an opportunity many people could only dream of. Forget him. If she was ready, than she should just go!

But still she stood firmly in place.

"I will not. Not while you're like this. Unless you can tell me you...you believe in me, I will not take that stage.

Was that all? He told her what she asked of him.

"Not like that! Say it like you mean it! Say it like you did before…"

He looked in her green eyes. Fierce determination met his gaze. Did she figure him out? The fact that he was having doubts about the show?

It mattered not. Staring into her eyes, he realized something. This girl was not the same girl that had ran out of the choir room years ago. She has changed. She was confident now. An aura shined around her more brightly than it ever did before. And here she was, right now, determinedly taking a stand for him, something he never would've dreamed of back then.

But things were not so different after all, he reminded himself. This was still the same girl with the same voice, and the song that could reach the world. She was here, now. And it was her opportunity to shine.

"I believe in you."

The girl seemed taken aback by his voice this time. She blinked, then slowly broke out into a smile.

"That's what I'm talking about! That's the voice I wanted to hear!" She whirled around, her hair floating in the air and her eyes still sparkling with that same determination. Before she stepped away, she glanced over her shoulder at the boy with a radiant smile on her face.

"Enjoy our show." she told him, wiping a glint off her eye.

The boy smiled back at her. He could not help it after all.

It had all been riding smoothly since then. Despite her late appearance and all the worker's complaints, her songs were by themselves enough to catch fire. One after another, she belted them out melodiously, and each one seemed to capture the audience more and more. And then when it came time for the girl's final moments, she took one quick glance back at the boy behind the curtain and shot him a wink, as she hummed the tune that started it all.

The audience noticeably hushed. It was unlike anything they had ever heard before. There were no flashy lights, no background music or outlandish lyrics. The girl on the staged simply hummed a very easy going tune. A small spotlight was the only thing that drew any focus, a girl with her eyes closed and a small smile humming underneath.

Those behind the curtain gaped in astonishment. Who could blame them? The song she was humming was not supposed to be part of the program. Still not knowing what to call it, the boy had left it off the list, and he was surprised as anyone. But it didn't take long for him to smile and sway along to the song. It was the perfect ending to the concert.

When it was all said and done, the girl opened her eyes and bowed to the audience, thanking them for their presence. She trotted off the stage with no regrets and that same small smile.

They say to this day that no audience has ever been in more of a frenzy.

The girl received more offers as her name began to grow, and the boy continued to take a managerial role. The interactions he had with the girl were always in her best interest, and every worker was envious of the mutual value they placed in one another.

Concert numbers were steadily growing, and audiences all over were drawn in to hear the girl whose songs could reach the world. Every concert felt bigger than the last, but despite this, neither the boy nor the girl ever broke down from the work and anxiety. And though each concert brought new challenges and different songs, they all ended in the same way.

The girl humming the unnamed tune that had started it all.

She had become a sensation now, her tunes could be heard in streets, her name talked about all around. In particular, the mysterious tune she hummed at the end of every concert became the hot topic for all her fans. What was it called? Where did it come from? Though it may not have been her intention, she had sparked a lot of interest with that tune.

So much so that she had been asked for an interview on television, one of the youngest idols to have ever been granted that honor.

The boy had accepted and convinced the girl to go along with it. It was good opportunity for her to connect with the fans as a person, and he saw no reason to not go for it.

So came the day for the girl's first television debut. The girl, in a gorgeous velvet dress, nervously took a seat across from a young and handsome smiling host as the boy watched her behind the set.

"So first things first." The host flashed his smile at her gently as he crossed his legs. "The question that everyone wants to know. There is that song you sing at the end of every concert, no matter what."

The host stopped and pointed behind him, where a screen began to play the song that he mentioned. It was of course, _that_ song. The girl looked up in wonder as she listened to it, not often on the listening perspective of her melody.

The song played for a minute or two, before the screen cut off and went silent. Though it was just a sample, the crowd clapped enthusiastically for the piece and the host raised his hand, acknowledging the applause and waiting for the noise to die down.

"So the people want to know," the host said once the studio had gone quiet. "Since there has never been any indication for it, what's the name of that song?"

The girl cleared her throat.

"I don't have a name yet."

There were murmurs in the crowd as the host raised an eyebrow.

"No name? Come now, that can't be right. A song like that must have a name! If only so I don't have to keep calling it 'that explody end song'!"

The crowd chuckled at the host's joke as he smiled out at the camera.

"Trust me, my colleagues all get really confused."

Another round of small chuckles. The girl sat quietly as she looked in her lap.

"Sorry."

The host must have noticed the girl's mood, as he backtracked very quickly.

"Oh no, no, it's okay. I'm just playing around. But anyway, surely you have considered names for that song, right? What do you _want_ to call it?"

The girl smiled at the familiar question. She had heard it many times before. And she always gave the same answer.

"I'm not sure yet."

The host tried a few more times to get an answer from the girl, but she had no answer to give. Realizing that at last, the host moved on, transitioning out of that segment with a flourish. The boy had to admire his professionalism. That could have ended a lot more awkwardly than it did.

"Let's talk about your manager." The host said.

The boy nodded, still impressed at how smooth the host had steered into a new topic, before his jaw dropped and he froze in place. _He_ was the manager, he realized. They were about to talk about him?!

The girl's eyes widened too as she seemed just as taken aback. She had no time to recover though, as the host rushed on.

"From what I've heard, it seemed you declined all offers from other managers and brands to take this young boy from your school as a manager. A no name boy with no experience! A very risky move on your part, but it all seemed to work out in the end, didn't it?

But there must be some reason that you chose him over every other offer! Why is that?"

The host turned to the girl expectantly as she glanced back at him. Hastily, she turned away only to meet the faces of the audience as they too awaited her answer. Blushing slightly now, she tuned back to the host.

"He...got me into singing in the first place."

"I see, I see!" The host responded unfazed. "So you believed that he would be the right choice because of your previous experiences!"

"Y-yes."

"And it seems you were certainly right! Every concert you've had turned into a massive hit!"

The girl sighed.

"Thank you."

"But, but, but!" The host waggled his finger with a mischievous smirk on his face. "Now there some other things I must address. You've known him for a long time now, correct? We could say you were childhood friends! But that just that begs the question:

What is your relationship with him now?"

There were some oohs from the audience, as you could see almost everyone lean forward in their chair a little bit. Everyone except the boy behind the curtain, whose legs turned into jelly.

What kind of question was that? Surely, the girl did not need to answer it. Especially not on national television. It was a mistake coming here. He had to stop the program. But he couldn't move.

The girl was visibly shaking as she rushed out a barrage of nonsensical rubbish in her panic.

"Erm…well, he's my manager so he does manager things like-"

"Tsk, tsk," the host interrupted once more with his waggling finger. "Come on, you know what I mean. Let me rephrase it anyway." He smiled coyly.

"Do you love him?"

Okay, enough is enough! The boy unglued himself from the floor and rushed out from behind the set. He skidded to a stop right in between the host and the girl, straight in the center of the stage. Sharp as a blade, he whipped his body to face the host.

Cut! He wanted to shout. Stop the program! What do you think you're doing?! All of those words lined up in his mouth, and he was about to spit them out, but a single one stopped him in his tracks.

"Yes."

He tensed in his place, an electric shock running through his body as his mouth hung ajar and he looked dumbly at the widening smile of the host in front of him, though not quite taking it in. Slowly, he turned around to face the direction from where the voice came from.

The girl smiled back at him, all signs of panic and distress he thought he saw on her, gone without a trace. She simply looked up at him, calm as ever, smiling as brightly as he ever saw her.

"I love you."

She said in barely a whisper. And though he could not believe it, he had heard it clear as day. Everything started to vanish around him, the host, the set, the audience. Soon, there was nothing left but the girl in front of him, still smiling, calmly looking up at him, waiting to hear his answer.

"I…"

It was a dim, dark world. The boy had grown up as a failure at everything he had ever done. He had wandered around aimlessly throughout life, but with no light to guide him, he had been hopelessly lost.

But then a light had turned on. Uncertainly, he followed it's path. Gradually, it became brighter and brighter, until it almost blinded him with it's brightness. He shielded his eyes, and when he could see again, it had made everything clear.

In the middle of the darkness, a single spotlight shone. A girl stood under it, all in her lonesome. She had brown hair, soft eyes, and she wore a soccer uniform. She was humming a song.

The boy crept closer to the light. He skirted around it, unsure of how to handle such a foreign place. But when the song hit his ears, he felt light enter his body, illuminating his soul, lighting the dark world he thought he lived in.

He watched her sing. All he could do as he stuck in place as his heart grew lighter and his mind grew wider. Even though he knew not what he was seeing, one thing was crystal clear.

That girl was where she belonged.

As she finished her song, she paused and looked around, as if searching for something. Her eyes met the boy's own. Smiling, she beckoned him to come closer. Into the light.

He smiled back at her. He couldn't help it. And naturally, he floated towards the light, and toward the girl as easily as a leaf in the wind.

"I love you too."

It was just so easy. There was a ripple from the crowd, the host had burst in excitement, but none of that mattered. The world faded into the background as the girl and boy looked at each other, lost in their own little spotlight.

It was a perfect moment, and a perfect ending. A type of ending one would find after a fairy tale. Shortly after the interview, the boy and the girl would wound up getting happily married. The wedding was the beginning of the rest of their lives.

They had it all planned out too, as it was something they had been secretly fantasizing for years now. Marriage was done. Next was a house. And then a kid.

But sadly, things do not always go according to plan.


	7. Shift in Tune

It was too much, too soon.

The marriage was successful. A small wedding filled with some of their closest friends. The girl had brought along her old soccer teammates as bridesmaids, and the girls happily chatted up until the ceremony.

The boy's parents had come along too, and they told him how proud they were of him. Those were words he never thought he would hear. It all made him tear up a little bit.

Candy had shown up as well. When she first responded to her invitation, her reply read "I'll come if I feel like it-but only to chew bubblegum and kick ass." Sure enough, on the day itself, she could be spotted in the crowd, not dressed for the occasion and chewing bubblegum by her lonesome.

"About time you two got hitched," were her first words to the new couple.

After the ceremony, a house was next on the list, and getting the right house came easily with the amount of money they had from the benefits of being a popular idol.

Not wanting to stand out too much, the house they got was a standard one, located in the suburbs near the area they grew up.

Thinking ahead, they had gotten a two floor, three bedroom house. It was fairly cozy and comfortable for its size, and the backyard was large enough for a miniature soccer field. The girl, unsurprisingly, wasted no time in setting one up.

And that was it. Had it all stopped here, perhaps their perfect life may have continued for a little while longer. But they had wanted it to be perfect right away. They wanted a child.

The girl had successfully gotten pregnant, and the initial trips to the doctor indicated that it all seemed to be going fine. Refusing to check on the gender for the surprise, they had continued along the way as time went by.

Something began to go wrong. The girl began to get lightheaded often, zoning out more as time passed by. She complained of stomach cramps and vomited occasionally. Her trips to the bathroom were frequent and lengthy, and when the boy would go to check on her, he heard a soft anguished moan along with a distinct rustling sound.

Despite all this, whenever he asked if she was okay, the girl would pass it off as nothing important, just ordinary growing pains of pregnancy. Not knowing too much of the subject nor what she was going through, the boy took her word for it.

Only on the day of birth did he realize what a terrible mistake that was. The girl, on the verge of fainting, lay on the hospital bed breathing heavily, sweating profusely with her eyes glazed over, and the boy took all of this as a pregnancy growing pain and didn't take much notice of it. But when the doctor spread her legs and removed her clothing, he was met with a horrifying, gruesome sight.

There was blood, dark red stains scattered across her body, so much blood that it even covered the start of her thighs. The only reason that it hadn't dripped down her legs was because the girl had taped rags to her underwater, soaking up the blood oozing from her and changing them in secret.

The doctor snapped up, a serious expression on his face.

"How long?" He asked simply.

The girl groaned out a response as if it took every fiber of her being.

"Not long...started...maybe a f-few months….ago...but….it only got worse...a few days ago."

The doctor gritted his teeth, a frustrated look on his face as he spat out vehemently.

"Why didn't you tell me?!"

The girl remained silent as she lay there, sweating and gasping as the doctor continued his rant.

"This could be very serious! You realize that right? If something serious happened…"

He trailed off foreboding, spitting bitterly to the side. The doctor turned to the boy, who was shocked in place.

"It's probably better if you lea-"

"I want to have the baby!"

The strangled voice off the girl cut off the doctor, and she caught both of their eyes.

"I...wanted...to...have...the baby…" The girl choked out through her coughs. "...Don't...take my baby...our...baby away…"

The doctor let out heavy sigh and rubbed his eyes with his palm, looking far more tired than he did a second ago. He turned to the boy and spoke in an eerily steady voice.

"It's probably best you leave for now, kid."

The boy stepped out, but nothing could distract him from the sight he saw in that room. Vivid and sharp, as if he were still there, the picture nightmare never left his mind.

Thoughts and regrets skirted in and out of his mind. He should have been more aggressive in finding what was wrong with the girl. He should not have taken the girl's words as easily as he did. If the worst were to happen, and something were to happen to her-

"...Sir?"

The doctor called out to him, interrupting him from his thoughts. He looked at him, not saying a word, tensing up as he waited for him to speak on.

"It's...not good," the doctor sighed.

Reality seemed to crush him as the boy slid down the wall. It was all going wrong. Make it stop. But the doctor's words bore into his mind, firmly registering as he continued to speak.

"Severe internal bleeding. Something must have snapped inside of her. We did everything we could but….she's not going to make it."

The boy heard all of it, but his body didn't recognize the turmoil going through his mind. He was falling, falling into an abyss at a breakneck speed with no way of slowing down. How dark everything was.

"We may still be able to deliver the baby, but…well, sir?"

A thousand thoughts rushed through his mind, but upon hearing the doctor's final sentence, only one phrase stuck to his mind.

" _I...want...to...have...the baby…"_

" _...Don't...take my baby...our...baby away…"_

"Do it."

The doctor nodded and retreated back into the room. Who knows how much time passed, it may have been an eternity, but far too quickly, the doctor poked his head out of the door. The deed was done.

He was told to come inside, and through some combination of sheer will, he managed to do so. His eyes immediately locked on the girl lying in front of him. Barely breathing and her eyes closed, she looked just as she did when she was sleeping, but the sight in front of him reminded him that it was all too clear this wasn't the case.

"We don't think she has much time left…" The doctor spoke carefully, as he did his best to inform the boy of the situation. "So we just thought, well, you should get one last moment with her, you know. To say your last words. In private."

The doctor turned to leave, but right as he neared the door, he turned around abruptly.

"Oh, I almost forgot. The delivery was a success. This isn't the time to say it, but, um, congratulations."

The boy, numb with shock, didn't register what the doctor said. He stood in a daze, indifferently receiving the infant the doctor placed in his arms.

His job done, the doctor promptly left the room.

He couldn't believe this was happening. The boy shook as he stared at his child, tears rolling down his face like rain. This whole thing was a joke. Life had kicked him to the curb so many times growing up, and he had lost himself in the darkness. Then she came along and provided that spark of light he never knew he needed, only to have life take her away and kick him out.

But there was no time to wallow in pity. Every second was precious now, and he had to pull himself together, if only for a few moments.

He positioned himself by her side and, shifting their baby to his left hand, he grabbed her hand with his right. Though it was shockingly cold, he gripped it firmly, shaking the girl until she opened her eyes.

"Ah…" she said. "What's up?"

The boy choked, unable to make response and tears rapidly fell down his cheek, dripping on the girl's hand. She did not seem to notice, instead staring intently at his face.

"Are you...sad? Why are you crying?"

He had to pull himself together, he had to! But he just couldn't say anything. Everytime he opened his mouth, a lump would form in his throat, or he'd hiccup on his tears. He tried to say something, anything to the girl, but yet-

"Don't cry. I'll sing your favorite song for you." The girl smiled briefly and tried to clear her throat. It sounded like a terrible cough. She continued perturbed, though, as she began to hum that familiar tune.

Even though he had tried so hard to make a sound, to say anything, the boy instinctively ceased his efforts as she started to sing. Her voice was faint, and with every passing moment, it only became fainter. Perhaps realizing it, she determinedly kept humming, not stopping until she finished her song. It had taken it's toll though, as her hand slipped from the boy's grasp and she blankly stared into space.

"I love you."

He whispered it out, finally able to get his head around the process of making words. The girl nudged her head slightly and found the boy staring at her, tears still streaming down his face. But with a small smile to go alongside it.

Ah, that's right, she had been trying to cheer him up hadn't she? How had she forgotten why she was singing? In any case, she was glad it worked. She smiled back at him.

"I...love you too."

The boy nearly choked seeing that sight. There was so much he still wanted to say to her, so much he still wanted to do for her. But seeing her now, even he could tell their time was almost up, no matter how much he didn't want to believe it. He had to think of something now, this was his last chance. But nothing was good enough. Nothing felt right. Nothing until a small stir in his left arm brought something to mind.

She had given her life for this. It was only natural that she gave it a name.

"...What do you want to call it?" He finally wheezed out.

The girl blinked. He just spoke didn't he? For some reason, she was having trouble concentrating on him. Strange.

What did he say? Ah, it was that question again, huh? That question always followed her wherever she sang her song. And she always gave the same answer.

But this time, something was different. Her mind was having difficulties focusing, but for whatever reason, that question stood clear in her mind. This time, it felt as if it had more weight than ever before. That she absolutely had to answer that question.

What then, would be her answer? Her song had remained nameless for so long, despite its importance to her. It had reached the boy. It had reached the school. It had reached the world.

But still, she felt a tinge of dissatisfaction. It could still do much better. She believed that, and though it was him who originally said "world", she knew he felt the same way. It was much bigger than that.

What was bigger than the world? Normally, she would have trouble answering that question, but a vision appeared in her mind. A larger than life magnificent golden gate was the center of it, surrounded by the sky and pearly white clouds. It was a breathtaking sight. Fit for an angel. And even though she didn't know why, she had a feeling she was going to be seeing this place very soon.

She hoped her song would reach more than just the world. She hoped it would reach the Galaxy.

"Milky Way."

Yes, she smiled. That was a good name.


	8. Nice to meet you!

Hello…? Hi! My name is Milky Way. Nice to meet you!

Wow! What is this place? In my life, I've been everywhere. Not just this world, but all over the galaxy too! Planets filled with aliens you would never believe. Ah, but I'm getting a little ahead of myself, huh?

Let me tell you a little about myself. First off, yes, my real name is in fact, Milky Way. I know, I know, it's a bit of an odd name. But unique names are cute, right~?

Let's see, what's the most interesting thing I can say about myself~? Oh, I know! I recently got this new backpack. Here- see look how big it is! It's so useful, since I love to travel.

What's that? Maybe I should start a bit more personal? Well, there's really not much to say about me. I'm just an ordinary looking girl after all.

Oh, people _have_ told me I have beautiful green eyes. I got those from my father!

My brown hair, however, came from my mother. So did my cheerful personality! At least that's what I was told at least. I didn't really know her for that long.

Oh no, it's nothing. I shouldn't have said that. Now it's gotten all dreary and that's a big no-no! Keep smiling, that's what's always cheers you up! Whee~!

Let's go play a game! There's a soccer field around here somewhere, and I don't mean to brag, but I'm pretty good at that sport! Come on, I'm sure we'll cheer up once we kick the ball around a little!

Hmm? Where are we? Ahaha...it seems I got us lost. I do love to travel, but I don't really have the best sense of direction, ehehe. I think I got that from my father too.

Don't worry though! No matter what happens, always greet the outcome with a smile! No situation is too terrible that a smile won't make it better. That's what I was taught, and I've lived my whole life this way!

W-what's that? You want me to tell you about my life? Oh, I don't know, it would take quite a bit of time. We should try to get some directions or something first, don't you think? Here, follow me.

Oh dear, now I'm really lost. This pebble looks familiar- think we've passed it before? Hmm..? Eep! W-was that rain that I just felt on my shoulder? Oh no, it's starting to rain! Ah, quick, let's find some shelter so we don't get all wet! There was a shed back there- we can hide under that!

Thank goodness. Heh, that was a close call, am I right? Seems like we'll be stuck under here for a while. Don't worry! I'm sure it'll all work out in the end though!

Anyway, how should we pass the time? Hmm, ah-ha! Why don't we have a smile contest? What's a smile contest? Well, it's like a staring contest, but instead we see who can hold their smile for the longest! And I'll have you know- I've never lost! That's because I _never_ stop smiling!

Ehh? What do mean that sounds dumb? Don't undervalue the importance of smiling! It's a valuable lesson!

Fine, do you have a better idea on what to do right now? Huh? Oh, m-my story? Right. I guess I did say it would take some time to tell the whole thing. We do have some time right now.

You sure? I'm not that interesting, and it isn't really something that will help you smile. Not as much as a smile contest anyway. What's that? You want to know why I smile? Why I was taught it was such a big deal? Hmm. I guess there's no other way then.

Okay, but after this we're having a smile contest okay? I'm not taking no for answer! Got to keep my streak going after all! You promise? Good. Alright, here goes then:


	9. Lost Voices

I was brought up by my father in a small house. My mother had passed after my birth, but daddy was alright raising me on his own. He would say I was a jolly child, and of course, how could I not be?

We had a small soccer field in our backyard that mother left us. Daddy always told me how good mommy was at soccer, and to my delight, I picked it up almost immediately. Daddy shook his head in disbelief every time he watched me play. He called me a soccer prodigy.

Of course, I had some difficulties growing up. With an odd name like Milky Way, I was always teased in schools whenever I went. But the strangest thing was when people would always compare me to my mother. Teachers, classmates, people I have never met before would always say something about my mother, and I had no idea why. Even dad would do it when he watched me play soccer.

"Must have gotten that from your mother," he said, a forlorn look in his eye.

I was curious, so I asked him about her.

"Tell me about my mother," I asked him.

For many years he hesitated on his response before giving me a generic answer such as how nice of a person she was, or something generic like that. This would only make me more curious, and I asked more frequently. I tried different question and got different answers. I asked some of my teachers, who looked surprised at my question, before telling me I should hear it from my dad. So I kept at it, trying to get to the bottom of all of it, before finally, he gave me what I was looking for.

I was somewhere between my middle school years when he called me down to living room to talk to him. He told me that there was some things he had kept from me about my mother, just as I had expected. He wasted no time telling me her story.

My mother was a famous idol, if you can believe that. Though famous may have been a bit of a stretch. She certainly was for a short period of time, skyrocketing to the top of the charts right after her debut. She performed in many concerts, sang many songs, and even appeared on TV once amazingly.

But just as quick as it started, it all faded away. While she was pregnant with me, something terrible happened. Dad explained it as a couple of muscular tissues broke inside of her, resulting in internal bleeding and the damage and blood loss were too severe to recover from.

Miraculously, I survived and they were able to deliver me. I...was the cost of my mom's life. It still shakes me to think of that, but Dad told me that it was my mother's proudest moment. She was determined to have me and lived just long enough to give me my name.

This wasn't really the most comforting thing a middle schooler could have told to her. Boy, I was upset that night. I know I had been asking for it, but never did I think the story of my mother was as depressing as _that._ I was bawling on the floor hysterically, snot running like water from my nose-

What's that? W-well yes, I did cry that night. I was young, okay? I hadn't realized the importance of smiling at that moment. But I'm getting there, okay? Just listen.

I was in a pretty terrible mood, I'll admit. But it must have been hard on my dad too. Not only did he have to relive that terrible experience, but now he also had a crying daughter to deal with.

He handed me a pair of headphones and told me to listen. And when I finally did, I heard the most beautiful sound in the world. It wasn't anything special, it was just a voice, in solitude, humming a song that mesmerized me in place.

That voice was my mother's. My father explained how it was a song she wrote but never named. She always sang this song when she wanted to cheer someone up. And she sang that song to me, right after I had been born.

Mom would have wanted me to cheer up. That's what he said to me.

She had this mysterious power, you see. It just seemed like no matter where she went, my mother would always bring smiles to anyone she met. You couldn't help but to smile back at her. She was the most wonderful person.

My dad brought me a picture of her, and though I had seen pictures of her before, this time I truly focused on her every detail. Her brown hair. Her bright eyes. But most importantly, her shining smile. And seeing her shine so bright while listening to her magical song, I could not help but to smile as well, if only just a bit.

My dad brightened up considerably seeing my smile. He told me I had one just like hers.

"You look so natural with a smile on your face," he said. "I promise I will do everything I can to keep it there."

Things weren't going as smoothly as he made it seem however. My dad and I were living completely off the money my mother made in her short-term career, and though it was enough for a while since we didn't go crazy, the money wasn't going to last forever.

My dad had been a manager for my mother during her idol career and he had tried to make use of that position to find other idols to manage. He would get sparse offers, but every time he went off to an interview, things just didn't seem to work out.

That all changed one day when my dad got a huge offer to become a manager for an aspiring idol. But it was across the country. He struggled with the decision for quite a period of time but in the end he realized that this was an opportunity he just couldn't miss.

Taking this job meant that we had to move. He asked if that was fine with me. Moving would mean I would have to say goodbye to my friends and teachers here, and the place we were going to likely would not have a soccer field in the backyard. But I knew just how important this was for us. I said yes, regardless of how I really felt.

Of course, the job was not locked down yet. My dad still had his interview to do, which was also across the country. So because he didn't want to just leave me in the house alone, he asked if I wanted to come with him to the new place. I quickly agreed. It would be a good chance to see what I was getting into.

Maybe if I was lucky, I could find a soccer field nearby.


	10. Repeat

I had no such luck.

We had decided to fly, as it was across the country, but the place did not have an airport. So we flew to a nearby bustling city and called for a cab. Even then it wasn't easy. Maybe it was too far or something, but the driver we called did not want to take us to the place we wanted to go.

Daddy had a long discussion with the driver, one that I was not a part of, but eventually he managed to convince him to give us a ride. It was a long and silent drive, and somewhere between here and there I dozed off. When we arrived, though, something had changed.

At first sight, it looked kind of normal, something like our own suburbs back where we came from. Looking a bit closer though, there were a few things that stood out.

There weren't as many people as there were in the city. That's the first thing I took note of when I stepped out of the cab. The streets were in worse condition and trash littered the area. Looking around, you would see a building with broken windows that looked like it hadn't been used in ages. It was a very ominous sight.

The thing that stood out to me most though, was just how _dark_ it was. Even with the fading light of the sun, the place and it's atmosphere just felt really dark to me. I didn't like it, and judging by the look on my father's face he didn't like it either.

But he didn't complain as he handed the driver his fees. Desperate times called for desperate measures I guess. The driver took the money without a word and turned around, speeding off back in that direction.

We walked along the road, and I kept a an eye out for any type of soccer field. I lost all hope quite quickly, though. No matter where we went, the buildings we walked past and the sights we saw all looked the same. The place looked like it couldn't afford decent street lamps, much less a soccer field. Even if it there was one, it would probably be unused and littered, just like the streets.

We walked well into the night and finally at one point, my dad stopped. He looked perplexed at a building that looked as if it were a bar.

"133…the address was 135. But the next house over is 137 so…"

My dad called the agents. They told him there was a path between the bar and the house that led to 135, and that was where we should go.

We retraced our steps. We found that there was this alley. Walking down it, our only discovery was a dumpster at the end of the path and a stronger, more disgusting smell. Daddy reached for his phone again-

Suddenly we heard footsteps. The alley was narrow, but quite dark, so Daddy squinted to try the find where they were coming from. I myself couldn't see anything, but Daddy's eyes widened. He turned towards me.

"Get in the dumpster."

"...What?"

I wasn't too sure I heard him correctly. Why would he tell me to go inside the smelly, filthy dumpster behind me? But he said it again.

"Get in the dumpster. And don't move!"

"But…"

"I mean it. Now!"

Daddy had never sounded so strict before. I turned around and opened the lid, retching at the smell. There was so much rotten trash inside, disgusting broken pieces of who knows what. I looked at Daddy, and he nodded at me. Recoiling and about to puke at what I was doing, I climbed inside. Daddy shut the lid over me.

You can imagine how uncomfortable it was for a girl to be in there. I was in total darkness among hoards of trash, something slimy touching my leg that I couldn't move away from, insects crawling up my torso that I couldn't reach, all among the insufferable smell of putrid trash. I gritted my teeth and swallowed my disgust, trying to think of cute puppies and rainbows to distract me from my situation. But it just didn't work. I was just about to burst out of that dump to demand why my father told me to go inside this miserable place, when I heard voices. Voices from outside that I could only listen too.

"Well, well, well. You actually came, huh?"

"Must be pretty desperate to come out to a place like this. Or maybe you didn't know?"

"The rumors of her manager being a walking pile of brain dead shit are true, huh?!"

Three voices. None of them belonging to my father. I strained against the dumpster, trying to hear his presence, but to no avail. My father made no sound.

The footsteps came closer and the three voices lowered as they got closer. Though I tried to listen to what they were saying, in my dumpster I couldn't pick up anything other than their mumbled voices. My father had still not made a sound.

Though my heart leapt violently in my chest and I wanted desperately to know what was going on, I dared not peek out of my dumpster for a look. My dad had told me not to move. And somehow, I knew this was a dangerous situation.

"You bastard!" Suddenly one of them yelled and I snapped my head back from the closer wall in fright. "Do you know who we are?"

"We were her biggest fans! Her biggest fans!"

"And-And you took her away from us! If she hadn't m-ugh _married_ you, if she had just continued singing-"

"She would still be here with us today! Do you understand what we are trying to say?!

"It's your fault! It's your fault she died!"

"Do you have anything to say about that? Huh?!"

They were all yelling now, and my head spun in confusion as I tried to figure out what they were saying. But because their loud voices combined with the downsides of being in a dumpster made my head ache, I couldn't wrap myself around it.

"You better say something quick, punk. If you want to keep your head."

"You see these in our _hands?_ You know what that _means?"_

"From the look on your face you know exactly what it means. So if you want to prove we're wrong, now would be a good time to do so!"

And for the first time in that dumpster, I heard my Dad say something.

He was quiet, unlike the other three voices who had been much louder even before they were shouting. Whatever he said, he mumbled it out and even though I was closer to him, I couldn't quite pick up what he said. So I leaned forward once again, pressing my ear directly against the inner wall of the dumpster, trying to get one word from him so I could get a clue when-

 _Bam!_

The sound was louder than anything I had ever heard in my life. I was thrown back into the other end of the dumpster and crashed my head against the back wall, or maybe it was a brick since I couldn't tell, and my heart stopped as the sound paralyzed me in place.

"Tch. Cheeky runt." One of the voices spoke up again, a good while after the blast. "What now guys?"

"...I dunno." Some shuffling. "Guess I could go for another beer. You in, man?"

"...Uh, nah. I think I gotta go home. 's getting kinda late."

"Yeah, your right. We probably gotta get outta here anyway."

"Yeah, you know what? I think the bar's closed anyway. Let's go."

I heard their footsteps again as they walked away.

I stayed in that dumpster for a good while after they left, partly because I didn't know what to expect when I came out and partly because I wanted to make sure they were gone. I would have stayed in there much longer had a voice not called my name.

"...Mil...ky"

It was my father's voice, albeit raspier than I had ever heard it. It was so weak that I had barely picked it up in my enclosed hideaway.

I emerged from the dumpster.

My worst nightmare lay right before my eyes. I hardly noticed trash sticking to me as I walked over to the body of my father.

He was laying in a puddle of blood, pale with a hand limply lying over his stomach and his eyes staring straight up and glazed over, not really taking in anything until they locked with mine.

I didn't even think to ask if he was okay. I already knew the answer.

But as I stood next to him, aghast and stiff in disbelief, he signaled me over and asked me to take a seat.

"...Milky...you don't look...so good."

He was saying _that_ to _me?_ Here he was, barely able to speak for God's sake, and he told me I wasn't looking good?

"Milky...you need to... _smile._ "

Smile. How was I supposed to smile now of all times? It was ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. My dad had lost his mind.

I still couldn't speak, so I simply shook his head. My dad looked like he frowned at my gesture.

"Now...that won't do...Milky...didn't I promise...I would always...keep that smile on your face?"

He did, but that was the last thing I was thinking of. How could I even think about a smile now? What good would a smile do?

My dad coughed a bit, and then gestured to his back. There he wore an old dull backpack, which carried all of our supplies. The people that had been here must've not noticed, or cared about it.

"Take it off."

Was it being a burden for him? In any case, I did what I was told, making sure not to move him too much in the process.

"Open the front pouch."

I did just that, hoping that there was something there that could help him out, some reason for me to do what he was telling.

There in the front pouch, were my headphones.

My dad coughed as he saw me look at him.

"Put them on."

I shook my head. I couldn't believe this was what he was getting at.

"Milky."

I shook my head again.

"Put them on."

It wasn't his ludicrous command that made me finally do it, it was his voice. It continually grew weaker and with each passing second I feared it would be the last I ever heard of it. That last sentence he spoke had an awful crack in his voice and that did it. I didn't want the last words I heard from him to be telling me to put something on.

"Play it."

It was on my mother's song again. Her steady voice filled my ears and my body once again. My mother's song had some sort of power. No matter who you were or what you've been through, it just always made you felt lighthearted and cheery. You almost always couldn't help but to smile at it.

But this wasn't going to happen now.

I sat there stone faced as my mother's familiar tone played in my ear. Every note I was determined not to let me make lose sight of the situation I was in. And after it's beginning, it's middle, it's chorus and it's ending, I managed to do just that.

My dad watched me the entire time. And once I was finished-

"Smile."

Why? Why did he keep telling me to smile? Did he not understand what was happening? Just how terrible this was for me?

In any case, I refused. My dad simply gave me a pathetic look.

"Play it again."

I put the headphones and listened again. I endured it again. Every note felt longer than the last, each chord of my mother's voice begging me to cheer up, but I sat there, unwilling.

"Smile."

This again. When would he realize there were more important things to do? Dropping the headphones on the ground, I turned my attention towards the bag and started rummaging through it. His phone was somewhere in there, right?

Nothing. I remembered he held it in his hand when he told me to jump in the dumpster, I searched his body, hoping that his phone was somewhere hidden in his pockets. Nothing.

"Milky."

He said to me, using my search as an opportunity to address me directly. I looked at him. He had a desperate, pleading look.

"Play it again."

I couldn't ignore him this time. I walked over and put the headphones on.

You'd think after listening it so many times, one would get sick of hearing it again right? Well, not me. No matter how many times I hear it, the same thing over and over again, I never got sick of listening to my mother's voice. It's the only time I ever get to hear her.

And so I went through it again. Every hum, every la, every lo. And this time, while I listen to it, it dawns on me just how silly of a situation this is. I mean, this was a nightmare come true for me, no question about it. But to some outsider…

Could you imagine how it would be in a book? A dying man telling his daughter to smile, and repeatedly making her listen to her dead mother's song to do so. It's utterly unthinkable. And thinking about this, I can't help but to laugh.

My dad continues to watch me, and when I calm down enough to look at me, he smiles back.

"That's right, Milky. Ah, that's a nice smile…"

He closed his eyes and sighs in content. His body sags as he does so.

"I promised I would keep the smile on your face. I did, didn't I?"

"Yes, yes you did." I say back to him.

"Now you promise me Milky. No matter what happens, always greet the outcome with a smile. No situation is too terrible that a smile won't make it better. Right?"

"Right."

My dad coughs a bit more, and I can't tell if he heard me or not. Regardless, he has a content smile on his own face as if he had.

"Thank you. Keep smiling, Milky. Keep smiling for me."

He says. And then his body goes limp. I would never hear his voice again.

Long after I realize this fact, I continue smile. My head buzzes dizzyingly, as if it is trying to find some reason for why my body is reacting the way it is in this situation. My father's last words echo in my head, and I force my smile into place, ignoring the throbbing pain in my head. Though if I wanted to continue smiling, I would need some help.

I set my headphones to max volume and set the song to repeat. Hopefully, playing the song loudly enough will give my head enough reason to smile. I knew the song well enough by now, so I hum along loudly alongside my mother's voice.

Perhaps I deluded my brain, but after enough time, finally the dizziness leaves my head. I'm well aware of my father's body next to me, and I knew how I felt about it, but my smiling has made that pain go away. My head is more clear than it had ever been.

I sat there for the longest time, listening and singing to the song in my headphones. My mother's voice. My father's body.

After a while I wondered briefly if I should leave. But if I did, where would I go? I didn't know where I was in this strange place. And besides, I couldn't leave my father's body. I continued to smile in place.

Before I knew it, night was over. I barely noticed that time had continued to pass. I refused to sleep. Not as long as I was told to keep smiling. And I kept listening to my mother's song as the cycle continued.

I don't know how long it was, but I started to get weak. Smiling had gotten harder, and my voice had grown faint. I was thirsty, hungry, and tired, yet I continued on.

Something near me was starting to stink horribly. The dumpster's trash must have been decaying. Although, that couldn't be the case since when I went in there, most of its content had already been rotten. The dumpster had not been touched since. That would imply that the decaying smell came from-

It didn't matter. I sang fiercely, trying to push that needless thought out of my head. My voice croaked in protest but thankfully, I managed to keep on going.

I began to hear voices. With a start, I realized they were not my mother's. I stopped my singing momentarily, and to my shock my headphones had not been playing her song for a while now. I had sang along to it for so long the song had been etched in my mind, and I had merely continued to sing as it replayed in my head.

The silence was unnerving. It left me with too much time to take notice of my discomfort , such as the fact that I was sitting in a pool of dried blood. I tried to sing my mother's song again, but since the pattern had been broken, I didn't know where to begin.

I heard those voices again. They were closer now, and I could hear them more clearly. I picked them out as a couple of people, one male and one female. They sounded giddy, drunk with laughter as they headed my way.

Then they came into view. I saw their eyes for a couple of seconds as everything changed. The lady's eyes widened as her hands cupped her nose and mouth, and she let out a squeaky shriek.

The male let out a loud yell and jumped backwards, before letting out a string of curses as he retreated back the other way.

"What are you doing?! Call the cops!" The girl screamed in her high pitch voice.

"R-right," the male replied and he reached in his pocket to bring out a phone.

I tilted my head and regarded them curiously. They had seemed quite happy just a moment ago. What they were so happy about going into an alley behind a bar was a mystery to me but-

Why did they seem so distressed now? Admittedly, the scene in front of their eyes may not have been the prettiest. But didn't they know the power of a smile? Had they just kept smiling along the way, surely they would understand. No situation was too terrible that a smile won't make it better.

How could I get them to smile?

My mother's song! It had a mysterious power to it. I had memorized it by heart and if I could just sing it for them now, surely they would understand. Surely they would cheer up.

I sing for them. It comes out a bit quiet and I can tell it's not quite the same. The women jumps away from me looking quite unnerved.

"W-what are the horrible noises coming from her mouth?"

I frown at that reaction. Not quite what I wanted to hear. But maybe I didn't quite get the song right. So I try again.

"Okay, okay, enough! This is creepy! I'm getting out of here!"

The girl turns around and tries to trot away, but the man catches her arm and stops her in her tracks.

"We can't leave. The police on their way and they told us to stand guard."

"YOU stand guard! You're a man, aren't you?!"

"I don't want to stand guard alone with this crazy chick! Come on, you're both girls, right? Shouldn't you be able to get along with her?"

"What the…?!"

They got into an argument and ignored me. I tried to move closer to them, but I simply did not have the energy. I desperately keep singing, hoping that soon my mother's voice would reach out to them, but nothing happens.

Eventually, I heard sirens. Shortly after a few uniformed policemen walk into view and inspect the scene. Their faces look so serious. Not a smile to be seen.

I try to sing to them, hoping that this time the power would work. They flinch quickly and regard me with surprise. A couple of seconds pass before they relax, peering at me and exchanging looks. One of the men walks up to me and I smile brightly at him, hoping that he would get the message.

He looked at me with an unreadable expression.

"Don't move," he said and he bent down.

It was the last thing I remembered before I fainted in his arms.


	11. Solo

"One week."

The doctor told me firmly and I smiled back at him. He looked so serious, so tight. His white hands shook and I thought I saw a bit of fear in his eyes. Fear of what?

"I don't understand. You were sitting there for one whole week. We get you in a terrible state. You're dirty, smelly, famished, parched...the list goes on. Then you wake up and _smile?_ Are you sure you're alright?"

The doctor ranted in frustration. The man was a professional, and he was concerned about me. I smile and nod my head at his question.

"That just isn't right! How can you possibly be alright?"

"Sir," A nurse next to the doctor spoke up. "Please, calm yourself."

"How can I? I've never seen anything like this before. At such a young age for such an extended period of time, PTSD, or something is supposed to happen. Maybe her mind broke? That's gotta be it! What else could explain this behavior?"

"My mind is perfectly fine." I protested. I was a little hurt by the accusations he threw out at me, but I continued to grin. A smile should make him understand how fine I was.

"Okay girl, maybe no one broke it to you. So let me say this very clearly,"

"Your father is dead."

The doctor simply said bluntly. He watched for my reaction. But the sentence has a bigger effect on the nurse. She jumped and protested to the doctor, telling him what he said was uncalled for. I cut her off.

"I know."

Of course I knew. I've long accepted what had happened. I sat next to that body for what was apparently a week. Did they think I wouldn't notice what was happening?

"Then why are you smiling right now?!" The doctor says incredulously.

"Smiling is important." I said back to him.

"That's not an answer!"

"Isn't smiling better for you?" I answered. "Wouldn't you rather have me smiling over throwing a fit, or being unresponsive?"

"Well-I suppose."

"Then I don't see why you're so upset."

The doctor clamped his mouth, unsure of what to say. After a while he sighs heavily and leaves the room. The nurse bows to me.

"Your discharge request was approved. As you seem perfectly healthy and stable, you can leave this hospital whenever you want." The nurse hesitates, and then asks me a question. "Just between you and me, how c _an_ you smile at a time like this?"

I bow to her and get up off my bed. It was time to leave.

"Smiling is just what I do." I said to her as I exited.

I wasn't too entirely sure where I was going to go, but luckily it had all been figured out for me. The cops had identified my father's body and while he wasn't entirely famous, they quickly were able to figure out who he was and where we came from after a little research.

I was sent with an officer back to my original house, the suburbs where I grew up. But the problem was not over there. I had no relatives to take care of me. And while I did have a few people I knew around the neighborhood, not many of them could just let me live in their house.

Luckily, my mother had made quite the name for herself as an alumni from the school where she graduated from.

It was decided then, that I would attend the same boarding middle school my parents once attended. A school that made a name for itself as one of the top in the area. I was lucky that my mother had made a few friends there that were willing to give me a place to stay.

On a whim, I joined the soccer team. And wouldn't you know it, the coach of that team was one of my mother's old friends from back then. She was a tall girl with a soft personality, and upon learning who I was, she told me all about how she used to play soccer with my mother, and how she witnessed her sing the most beautiful song- the same one I had on my headphones- for the very first time.

"I'm really sorry for going on like that," she changed her tone as she looked down at me with kind eyes. "It must be hard for you, especially after what just happened. I'm really sorry for bringing it up."

I smiled at her.

"Don't be." I said.

She looked surprised for a second, before smiling back at me.

"You have a smile just like hers. Anyone ever tell you that?"

I nodded, but was pleased to hear her say that nonetheless. My mother's smile after all, was told to me to be one that could bring smiles to everyone around her. I aspired to do the same. Smiling was essential after all.

"Ah, enough of all this reminiscing," the tall coach stopped and handed me a soccer ball. "You came here to try out right? Well show me what you've got!"

I caught the ball and dribbled it to the field. I was determined to make the team. While I was practicing, I felt the coach's eyes on me as she watched me go.

"She moves just like her," I heard her say under her breath.


	12. Reprise

I've mentioned this already, but I'm pretty good at soccer.

It took no time for me to find my place on that team. I played in the front, and my main role was to set up formations and pass to our main striker to shoot the ball. And I was very good at this.

In that very season, we were the champions in our league. Not only that, but we qualified for this big, nationwide tournament.

Keep in mind that this was a school that focused on training students in specialty fields. While some were there for soccer, there wasn't a huge emphasis on that club in particular. The nationwide tournament was something that we would normally qualify for anyway, but this time we were ranked a higher seed than ever before. This was a big deal.

My coach, the tall girl, told me I was the star of the team. Ever since I joined the team, we went on an unprecedented winning streak.

She said I was just like my mother. I controlled the field and seemed to have a head start on everything. I had been playing for a while up to that point, so I guess I just had a good read on things.

I hummed my mother's song on the field too, which was apparently what she did before me as well. It started one day when there was a simple miscommunication on our team, and two of our teammates got into a fight. I put on my headphones and hummed while smiling at them.

"Is she...trying to cheer us up?"

"Yeah...I guess she is. Er, yeah, we shouldn't really fight over this. How about we just try that pass again?"

And it broke them up just like that. We returned to normal and I made it a habit ever since to bring my headphones to the field and hum whenever my teammates needed it. This resulted in many things.

But most importantly in my opinion, I brought smiles to my teammates faces.

Well, figuratively at least.

You see, I learned very quickly that smiling all the time was impossible. There were even a couple of times that it slipped off my face, usually when I made a mistake or something. A lot of players would also have to keep a smile off their face to focus.

Smiling was definitely important, but what was more important was the meaning behind a smile. People need to be happy. They need that to make any situation better. And while I saw my teammates get around their opponent or pass through them, I knew that they were happy. They had a smile on their face, even if you couldn't see it.

At the end of the game, when all the dust had settled and we won, both teams would meet in the middle, and shake hands. Sometimes, one of our players would pant heavily, preventing a smile on their face. But I could still feel their happiness. I had heard them yell in triumph when the game ended. I watched them hug their teammates. I felt happy too.

The other team would meet us, but they would look the same! Panting heavily, they looked just like us. That would mean they were happy as well. Because they must have felt the same way. They must have had the same metaphorical smiles under the face.

That's what so great about soccer. No matter who wins, everyone is happy. That entire year, I had assumed this to be true. That soccer brought happiness. That the opponents we beat were just as happy as us.

But then the national competition started. Well, you see, there were problems right away.

In our school we split our soccer clubs by gender. There was a boys group and a girls group. For the national competition, however, the clubs were integrated.

My coach had wanted me to stay in the front, since that's where I was most comfortable. The boy's coach however, an angry looking man, had insisted on putting his striker in that position. Things were getting heated, you see.

So I did the natural thing and broke up the conversation by agreeing to move the mid line. The boy's coach smiled at me.

"Finally, a girl that know her place."

I smiled back at him, glad I could bring a bit of happiness to him. My coach however, did not look as pleased for whatever reason. I walked with her all the way back to the field, humming my mother's song and asking her to smile before she finally did. It was a little different from her normal smile, but a smile is a smile, I supposed.

Throughout the tournament, we had a good run. Match after match we won and advanced first out of preliminaries and then into the playoffs. Things got harder, but we made a comeback in the quarters, and into the semis we went.

All the while I had done what I've always done. I hummed, I played, and I brought smiles to everyone's faces. But progressively things got weird. Just last game, in the quarters, I witnessed some of our opponents crying after we beat them.

I couldn't comprehend it. Soccer was supposed to bring happiness. What were they doing? Was crying just another way to smile? I assumed it was true. It had to be after all. I walked up to some of our crying opponents.

"You guys look happy!" I said. "You must be having a good day!"

This got me a pretty weird reaction. A couple of them ran off, not responding to what I said, a few shouted something quite loudly at me which I didn't understand, and one of them got up and shoved me away. My coach, the tall girl, rushed on over and took me away.

"They're happy right?" I asked her. "Why did they shove me away?"

This got me a very strange look from my coach. She stood there and looked over me for a good minute, a very confused look on her face. Finally, she gave me an answer.

"They probably didn't want to share their, um, _happiness,_ with you," she said in an unsure manner. It made sense to me though. Happiness was a very valuable resource.

"Got it," I said.

Eventually it was time for our semi final match. Things were going great. Our team was in high spirits and once we won, we would appear in the middle school national championship match for the first time in our school's history. My teammates were giddy with excitement. It was the most amazing atmosphere.

Then something went really wrong.

I'm not sure what happened. It must have been something during the game. I took my position in midfield as was usual, and I saw serious faces all around me- smiles under them of course.

Well, everyone looked serious except for one person. A boy stood across from me, his messy blond hair blowing in the wind. That person was my matchup, the person I was supposed to guarding. The boy's coach warned me about this player. Apparently he was one of the best in the entire nation. I better not screw up, he said.

With that in mind, I had expected him to be the most serious one of us all, the greatest passion in his mind and the widest smile-metaphorically- on his face.

But he was entirely apathetic.

I expected him to change when the game started, but even when the whistle blew he had an uninspired look on his face. He received the kickoff and stared at me dully.

"Hey," he said. "Do I was strawberry or cheese flavored ice cream?"

I blinked at him confunded. What? His question made no sense. Why was he talking about ice cream when the game had just begun?

"Well, it doesn't matter- here I come!"

"Huh?"

I snapped back to attention, but before I had time to react he had somehow moved past me already.

It was the strangest thing. I didn't even realize how he had done it. And before I could even think about it, a horn sounded and a white haired girl had scored a goal for the opposing team. 0-1.

He trotted back to midfield and regarded me coolly. I was nervous. Swallowing hard, it was my turn to receive the kickoff. I expected him to challenge me really hard.

But surprisingly, I dribbled right past him. He stood there and let me pass it off to my front line without any challenge whatsoever. Soon the boy that had replace me at my position scored and now it was 1-1.

"What are you doing?!" The white haired girl screamed at her midfielder. "Get your head in the game!"

The guy shrugged her off and he received the kickoff. This time I was prepared. No way I was letting him rush through me again.

But that was exactly what happened. I was helpless as he made one move around me and soon the horn blew to signal that the white haired girl had scored again. 1-2.

And then it was my turn and I walked right past him again. I passed it off again, buzz! 2-2.

This cycle continued for the entire game. It was the most eccentric game I had ever played. I couldn't stop him. He wouldn't stop me. There were about 15 minutes left and the score was 12-12. He had the ball again, but this time as he went to make his move, I randomly stuck out a leg. To my shock I felt the ball touch my foot and I ended up with it.

"Oops," he said carelessly. 13-12. We were ahead.

"You!" The white haired girl screamed at her midfielder, but she was so mad her speech came out impaired and she sounded like she had yelled 'shoe!' . "What was that?!"

"What? I made a mistake? It's no big deal," he said to her.

"Do you realize this is the semifinal of the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP?"

"So what? It's just a game."

"You. If we win, I'll buy you any ice cream you want."

The blonde guy brightened up considerably after hearing that and for the first time all game, I saw a smile on his face.

"You mean it?"

"Yes!"

"Okay! Then- for ice cream!"

He had the ball again and he glared at me with a fire he hadn't had all game. This was what I was expected from the beginning, but for it to come all of a sudden in the last minutes of the game.

He rushed at me fiercely and I stuck out a leg again, but this time I had no luck. He jumped over me and shoveled the ball off and within seconds the blare of the horn signaled a tie game. 13-13.

"That's what I'm talking about!" The white haired girl yelled back at him. "Now don't you dare let her walk past you again!"

"I got it!" He yelled back at her, and so I was met with my first real challenge.

I gritted my teeth as I focused, trying to figure out how he would defend me. I tentatively fainted to the right for a split second, and I saw him jump. He was quick, and he recovered very quickly. But it was evident to me- defending was not his forte.

As he jumped back, I rushed straight at him. He got himself in position just in time-only for me to quickly crossover and dribble to my left. Instinctively, he slid down and try to jar the ball away with a slide tackle, but it was already too late, I was out of his reach. A couple seconds more and I would be past him-

BAM! I tripped over something and fell on the turf. Dazed, I turned around to see a silver haired male had ended up with the ball. He was also a midfielder for the other team, and up to this point he had not really looked like anything special. Suddenly though, he had got me.

"Needed a little help, you?" He smirked at his blonde teammate on the ground, before dribbling past us.

"I could have gotten that myself!"

"Whatever. Noa, move!"

I could only watch as I lay on the ground as the midfielder passed it off to the white hair girl. It was a weak pass, but our defense had long been worn down throughout the entire tirade of shots they had gone through. The white hair girl caught the ball and lined up once more-

"Now! We can do it!"

The horn blew once more and the whistle blew shortly after. 13-14. We had lost for the first time.

Immediately there was this pain I felt. I attributed it to the spill I took from the ground. It was completely natural after all. I watched the other team cheer and swarm their striker, laughing and smiling just as we would have if we won. That was natural. I tried to smile, weakly, along them.

That wasn't natural. I looked around. My team had their heads bowed. Some were panting heavily. But none of them had the happiness I felt before. None of them would have smiled if they had the chance.

"Outscored by a girl!" the boy's coach was yelling at his striker, who had sitting on the turf with his head buried in his hands. "Do you realize how stupid that made us look?"

I tried to hum. But the song didn't come out right. I was too exhausted to try to sing, and my voice was too soft. I couldn't get my teammates to smile.

Our opponents lined up in the center of the field, cheerful as ever. It was time for the handshake. I brightened up a little. If I couldn't do it, surely our opponents could cheer up our team.

Our team lined up. I shook each one of their hands with a cheery grin and a hearty "Good game." I was met with a few raised eyebrows, but the opposing team generally returned the smile right back.

That reassured me. I had not lost the power to make smiles happen. I just needed to try.

Once the handshakes ended our team walked back to the sidelines, a dejected feeling hanging in the air. I stood out in front of all of them.

"Everyone!" I said. "Cheer up!" Then I hummed my mother's song.

I didn't get very far, however, when I was interrupted.

"Are you crazy?!" the male striker yelled about two seconds into my humming. "If you hadn't let that midfielder get past you 15 times, we would have won that game! Aren't you ashamed?"

"You cost us that game!" The male coach roared. "We worked so hard for this, and you treat it like it's a joke?! What is your problem?"

Before I knew it, the whole team had turned against me and were yelling together. Since they all yelled together, I couldn't pick up what they were saying.

"E-everyone, if you would just listen to the song…" I stammered, but I was drowned out. I was sure that if they would just listen, everything would be alright, but I just couldn't get it out.

I thought I had failed. Eventually the outrage had settled down and we were ushered into the locker rooms. I kept getting unhealthy glares from my teammates, and so I wanted to be out of there as quick as I could. I was the first one to leave the locker room.

"Ah, Milky Way." The boy's coach was the only one out there to greet me as I emerged from the lockers. "I was thinking about what you said, and you're right! We really should cheer up."

That caught me by surprise and I looked incredulously at him. He was the last person I expected to take in what I said. Had my mother's song reached him after all?

It certainly looked that way as he met me with a wide smile.

"Anyway, I'm glad you were the first one out. Come with me, I'll lead you to our bus."

He gestured to me. Elated, I followed him. If it had reached him, surely it had reached everyone else too. I would just have to wait.

"Here we are. Get on in now."

He had surprisingly led me quite some distance. I blinked before realizing I had no idea where we were. This wasn't the parking lot as I had expected, but instead we were in the middle of some trees. Cigarette butts littered the ground, but that wasn't where my attention was focused. I gasped as I saw there wasn't a bus at all, but a rocket ship right before my eyes!

"Ah, yeah, we decided to use a different way back." he said with that same smile on his face.

It was hard to believe, but he was the teacher after all. I shrugged and walked in.

"Great, the rest of us we'll be there in just a second. Don't move!" he said and walked away.

Don't move. That was a command that I was all too familiar with.

I explored the interior of the ship, curious of just how we were going to use it. I don't know how long it was, but as I was remarking that there wasn't much room for all of my teammates and coaches I felt the ground start to rumble. Suddenly, the ship had taken off.

Panicked, I stumbled my way around trying to find the driver. We were leaving way too early! My teammates weren't on board yet!

Finally, I found my way to the head of the ship, and I heard voices.

"Thanks for letting me drive your ship Neris! Yowza, this is awesome!"

"Oh, it's no problem. I rarely use it after all. Anyway, Earth soccer, huh? They aren't that bad."

"See? I told you! Serena wanted them in the Galaxy league for a reason!"

"Hehe, I can see why! They've got some amazingly fragrant girls, right?"

"What? Um, no."

"Kuma, you pervert!"

I did a double take. A miniature talking rabbit, bear, and a racoon were sitting around and they were discussing our game. Next to them a cat slept soundly and at the helm of the ship, and a tiny pig was sitting in the driver's seat. But what was more amazing, was that as I looked out of the window in front of them, I saw nothing but stars.

...The boy's coach must have led me to the wrong ship.

On accident of course. No way he would lead me to a random ship on purpose.

And besides, even if he had, my teammates would surely start looking for me once they realized I was missing.

I was sure I'd be back at school in no time. Sure of it.

But in the meantime-

"Um, excuse me?" I spoke up and the talking animals jumped and looked at me in shock. "What is this place?"

That's it. That's my story really. After a while, I've wandered around quite a bit. Once the ship had landed I boarded another one, but that one led me to some place filled people that looked liked angels. Haven't really found my way home yet.

I see that look you're giving me. I'm not stupid. He abandoned me didn't he? The boy's coach was a smoker and after the game he must have stumbled upon the ship by chance as he was smoking in the woods. He led me there and sent me off into space so I would never see them again.

It's a pity really. The last sight I ever got to saw of my old team back on earth was them all yelling at me. If I had a little more time to get my song off- surely I could have gotten them all to cheer up and smile by the end of it. Surely I would.

Don't you look at me like that! I know what you're thinking. And I'm telling you, I definitely could have done it! I've done it over and over before and I've done it over and over since!

I was put into this 'Galaxy League' thing with the angels see, and it's some sort of intergalactic soccer competition. I have a new soccer team now, and I've made each and every single one of them smile since I've arrived!

And I learned from my mistakes too! When I sang to my teammates back on earth, it was just a matter of bad timing. There's no way that I will fail again this time!

No way a soccer team will ever abandon me again! I'm sure of it!

What? Why am I crying? I'm not crying. No, you misunderstand. These are tears of joy! Why? Uh...because…

Because now that I've finished my story, we're going to have that smiling contest now! That's right! You promised, didn't you? I've got to continue my streak after all. I'm up against you! Got a problem with that?

Now smile! SMILE! You have to, it's the rules after all! Whee~! Lalala~! Smile!

That's a good smile! Okay, here we go. You ready?! 3! 2! 1!

…

…

…

Haha. I lost...


End file.
